Kampfer: The Final Saga, Book Three: Im Schatten (DISCONTINUED!)
by Master of The Wild Card
Summary: The sequel to Kampfer: The Final Saga, Book Two: Dem Sieger. Two years have passed since Mamoru and his friends defeated the Moderators, but now; a new threat has appeared, the mysterious Schatten. Who are they really, and what are thier goals? And will Mamoru and his friends be able to defeat then even with new powers and weapons. Only time will tell...
1. Chapter 1: A New Threat?

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 1: A New Threat?

_**Are you guys ready for this?**_

_**Reader: Like hell I am!**_

_**Well, it's finally time for Book Three of Kampfer: The Final Saga! This is going to be a slightly less canon plot. Meaning that I will be adding a few new things to the mix. Like for example, if you remember from the last two chapters of Book Two, Mamoru sort of went what I like to call a Super Kampfer, in the spirit of DBZ.**_

_**In this story, that will become a special skill that some characters can pull off. And yes, there will be Kampfer in this story regardless of the end of the last book. But, they will have a few upgrades so to speak. Like the Super Kampfer skill I mentioned, and other things that I won't spoil.**_

_**Also, the main theme of this story is bonds, as many will be tested in this story. There will be a nit more focus on Mamoru as his bond with Shizuku will be one of the things tested at a few points in the story. Also, this story will be told fully in first person perspective, from Mamoru's view that is.**_

_**Also, the Kampfer transformations for some characters will have a slight change in appearance due to the story taking place two years after Book Two ended, so I thought that I would mention that.**_

_**Now, this story will be just a tad darker than Book two was, and we all know how that went. If you don't, then first; why are you reading this before Book Two? And second, read the last two chapters of book Two.**_

_**And before we start, I want to just say that you won't believe what I'm listening to in order to inspire me for writing this chapter; I am listening to the opening for Angel Beats; My Soul, Your Beats. It is an awesome song and so is the Anime itself, you should all go and check it out, just saying.**_

_Four years….it's been four years since that fateful morning. That morning when I woke up to discover that I had turned into a girl. Crazy, right? Well, I was pretty freaked out myself, that is, until a stuffed dragon from my childhood came to life and told me that I was a Kampfer-that is to say-a mystical warrior that is required to fight others of my kind. But here's where the twist comes in, I wasn't an ordinary Kampfer, I was special, if you will._

_You see, there were two teams of Kampfer; Red and Blue. But I was neither, I was a Green Kampfer, or should I say the Green Kampfer, seeing as I was the only one in existence._

_And what's more is the fact that the Reds and Blues had actually become united against the Moderators-they're the ones who started this whole thing by the way. But anyways, in response to the defiance of the Kampfer, the Moderators had created a sort of rogue faction of Kampfer to try and get the Reds and Blues under control and even kill them if necessary, they were the White Kampfer, sent personally by the Moderators to break the Red and Blue alliance._

_I've made a lot of friends along my journey as a Kampfer; Natsuru Seno, a Blue Kampfer who, like me, transformed into a girl as a Kampfer, Akane Mishima, another Blue Kampfer that is shy in her normal form but becomes this hyper aggressive gun-toting bitch when she transforms, Mikoto Kondo, a Red Kampfer who is also Natsuru's childhood friend, Kaede Sakura, a former agent of the moderators and soon after, a Red Kampfer who is also Natsuru's girlfriend._

_And last but certainly not least; Shizuku Sango, a Red Kampfer who also happens to be my girlfriend. We've been going out for-get ready for this-almost three years now. That's right, We've been going out for almost three years, and it's been a good few years if I do say so myself._

_But anyways, I'm getting off track, where was I….? Oh yeah, that's right, I've also found out some pretty crazy things as well; like the fact that my mother is former Kampfer. Or the fact that I had this ability called fission where I could split myself from my Kampfer form and basically double my combat strength._

_Eventually, we started to discover the truth as to why we Kampfer fight one another. It turned out the we were fighting a Proxy War meaning that we were representing two 'mighty forces' which we discovered were the Spirits of Order and Chaos themselves._

_I also eventually discovered why I was the only Green Kampfer in existence, it turns out that I was actually a 'splinter group of one' so to speak planted within the Kampfer System by two Moderators who were planning to betray the other Moderators due to them not agreeing with their methods. Anyways, I was supposed to be a guardian to the Red and Blue Kampfer that were defying the Moderators. I was also supposed to unite Red and Blue into a single force, which I did in the final battle with the Moderators._

_Oh yeah, and you remember those two Moderators who I had mentioned were planning to betray the other Moderators? Of course you do. Well, one of them turned out to be my father who had been presumed dead when I was a kid, it turned out that he was still alive and was working with the Moderators._

_A lot happened in the final battle actually, like for example, my older sister, Hikari had died due to the Black Kampfer, Daisuke, who was also my best friend at one point. Note that I said was my best friend, that's because like Hikari, he's dead. He's been dead for two years in fact. It's actually sort of sad, when a Kampfer Dies, every trace of their existence disappears. Even peoples memories of them. The only people that remember them are other Kampfer._

_Well, technically, as of two years ago, it was changed to former Kampfer, since there are no more Kampfer in existence. You see, the War eventually ended with the declaration of the War being a stalemate and all Kampfer being deprived of not only their requirement to fight other Kampfer, but also their Kampfer transformations as well. So essentially, the War ended peacefully, as it should have._

_It's been two years since then, and I've been enjoying my peaceful life. Although, I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of new danger approaching. I've been having these weird nightmares lately that seem to almost be foreshadowing something. A normal person would just deem these as just bad dreams, but given my past, I'm not a normal person….._

…_**...**_

"Okay…let's see….I think that's everything on the list." I said, looking down at a small slip of paper in my hand. I was walking through the Shopping District, carrying an armful of bags along with me when I decided to head home. I made my way through the streets of Tokyo and eventually got to the apartment that I now lived in. I had turned eighteen a few months ago, mind you, so I had moved in here around that time.

I unlocked the door once I had gotten to my apartment that was close to the center of the complex, by the way, and stepped inside. I walked into the kitchen and placed the grocery bags down first before placing the other bags in the sitting room for now.

"Damn…It's that late already?" I said in surprise as I saw that the clock on the wall read 10:00 PM. "Well…I guess that I should start to get to bed. " I unloaded the groceries quickly and walked back into my room afterward. I began to change into my pajamas when I felt a strange presence outside my window. I turned to see that there was no one there, yet I could have sworn that I had seen a familiar mix of yellow-green, blue, and grey out there.

"Is anyone there…?" I asked hesitantly as I opened the window. I saw nothing out of the ordinary and shrugged as I closed the window and got into bed before turning out my bedside lamp. That was when the nightmares began once more….

_Okay, I am officially keeping count of how many times this keeps happening. Currently, it's at three." I said irritably as I recalled this dream that I'd had twice before already._

_I found myself standing in a void of nothingness, staring at my reflection in a large mirror. Though, this was not my true reflection; what I was staring at may have looked like me, but at the same time, it was different._

_The figure I saw was wearing the same clothes that I generally wore; button-up shirt, jean vest, cargo pants, and a pair of leather boots. But this figure wore a blue button-up shirt, a yellow-green jean vest, brown cargo pants and a pair of grey leather boots. Also, the hair of the figure was black instead of the dark brown that mine was. His eyes were also different, being a deep crimson in color as opposed to my blue eyes._

_Suddenly, the figure reached through the mirror and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. The arm he had grabbed me with containe4d one thing that stood out; a metallic bracelet that was a dull and lifeless shade of grey._

"_Who are you….?" I found myself asking the figure._

"_You can just call me Mamoru for now…" The figure said in a more sinister version of my voice. But out of nowhere, the figure transformed into a strange…..I think that creature was appropriate for this. He had become a mass of black smoke that still somehow had me by my collar._

"_Soon….Soon your world will fall to the might of the Schatten…." The voice said with an added echo._

That was when I woke to the sound of the phone ringing next to me. I bolted upright in the bed as I leaned over and grabbed the phone off the receiver and answered it.

"H-hello, Tsuyoshi residence…" I said somewhat groggily. I heard an all too familiar giggle on the other end.

"Afternoon, sleepyhead." Shizuku said with a giggle on the other end of the line.

"Afternoon…?" I asked. That was when I looked at the clock next to my bed. What shocked me awake was the time, it read 12:30. That was also when I realized something else; Shizuku and I had planned on having breakfast at a nearby café.

"Oh….no…." I said realizing my mistake. "I slept too late. Shizuku, I'm sorry…I don't know how this happened….I…."

"Mamoru, its okay, why don't we just take a walk this afternoon." Shizuku said gently.

"Uh…sure, that sounds great. I'll be over there in a bit." I said before hanging the phone up and getting out of bed. I quickly put a fresh pair of clothes on and walked out the door of my apartment shortly afterwards. I met up with Shizuku a few minutes later and we started our afternoon walk.

"So, how come you overslept?" Shizuku asked me after a while.

"I don't really know how to describe it…but I had this weird dream last night…it seemed so real." The only other time that this has happened is….." I said as I started to trail off in my memories. Shizuku looked over at me in confusion.

"Is….?" She asked.

"…..Two years ago….the night before the final battle with the Moderators…." I said. Shizuku had a look of surprise on her face.

"What could this mean…?" Shizuku asked.

"Well, last time, I think that the dream I had was a foreshadowing of the final battle or something, but the Kampfer System was eliminated two years ago though…I wonder if there's a threat that even the moderators don't even know about." I said before I heard a strangely familiar voice behind us.

"How right you are…" The voice said sinisterly. Shizuku and I turned around to see that there was a figure standing behind us that looked just like me. Well, except for the fact that the coloring of his clothes was a bit off. He wore a blue button-up shirt, a yellow-green jean vest, brown cargo pants and grey boots. He also wore a bracelet on his wrist that was a dull and lifeless grey. I immediately recognized him as the one from my dream.

"I…I can't believe that it's you…the one from my dream…" I said fearfully. "That bracelet….are you some sort of …K-Kampfer?" Shizuku and I started to back away slowly as he began to approach us.

"Indeed…I am a Grey Kampfer, the darker side of the true Kampfer, and I am looking for someone you may know. She's a lot like you, actually." The figure said with an evil grin. I realized after a moment who he meant.

"M-Midori? Are you after Midori…?" I asked. The figure chuckled.

"So…that's what you call her? Well, nonetheless, you're a smart man. So, do you know where she is…?" He asked.

"I-I haven't seen her for two years, she's not here anymore…" I said, which was true, after the final battle, Midori had gone back to the United Planet, which I had heard from Dad was what they had decided upon calling it. All the other Kampfer had also gone back, so there were currently no Kampfer on Earth at the moment.

"Ah…interesting, well…it seems that you need some encouragement…" The figure said with an evil grin, he suddenly caused two broadswords to appear in his hands as he turned to face Shizuku. "Hmm, I wonder what these swords would do to your friend here if I were to….oh, say accidentally swing them aggressively…" He proceeded to attempt at said action but failed as we managed to get away from him as we ran in the opposite direction.

As we were running, I looked back to see that not only was the figure pursuing us, but Shizuku had tripped and was almost in front of the figure. I instantly turned around to try and save her.

"Leave her alone!" I shouted as I leaped forward at the figure. Suddenly, a bright burst of light had occurred near my wrist. The light had a pale green glow to it and it was one I recognized all too well. But this time, something different happened, instead of a bracelet appearing like I expected, a green metallic gauntlet-like object appeared on my arm, a gauntlet that went from my wrist to my elbow, in fact.

"Mamoru….look..." Shizuku said. I opened my eyes to see that Midori was standing in front of the figure, her longsword drawn and blocking him from attacking Shizuku.

"M-Midori!" I exclaimed in surprise as she turned her head to face me. While she till wore the same feminine version of the clothes I wore, her hair had actually grown out slightly and was tied into a ponytail that by itself almost reached her rear. She also had one of the gauntlets that I now possessed, being the same bright green in color.

"Well, it's about time that you got your Oath Gauntlet." She said with a smirk as she drove back the figure and charged forward. She began to swing her blade furiously and quickly as I had a hard time keeping up with the action. Eventually, Midori began to perform what used to be my signature move when I was a Kampfer; she charged her sword with a great amount of electrical energy and sliced the blade through the air, creating and sending a wave of energy straight at the figure. The wave hit him head on and sent him flying backwards. He got up and winced.

"I…I will return soon enough. Just wait and see, the Schatten will cover your world in our power, and when we do, you will all be doomed…." And with that, the figure disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Midori turned around and smiled at me as she walked over to Shizuku and me.

"What did you guys think, I decided to give that attack a name a while back. What do you think of 'The Volt Slash'?" She said. Well, at least she hasn't changed that much.

"It's umm…cool…But, what are you doing here exactly?" I asked. Midori nodded and started walking away; she turned around and stared at us as if she expected us to follow her.

"What are you guys waiting for? Are you coming or what?" She asked. Shizuku and I nodded and hurried to catch up with her. Eventually, we arrived at the park and we found a small secluded spot apart from the rest of the area.

"Okay, so here's the story, apparently, some sort of dark force has started to rise up and is trying to take over your world." Midori explained.

"How long has this been happening?" Shizuku asked.

"A few days." Midori replied as she sweat dropped. For a second, I glared at Midori, but then decided to ask her a few more questions.

"So, Midori, do any of the others know about this?" I asked. Midori's face became more solemn.

"Actually…yes. Natsuru and Kaede do at least. They've already reunited with the Red and Blue priestesses-I mean, their Kampfer forms. But also…they actually managed to capture Natsuru two days ago." Midori replied. "What's crazy is how they did it. This figure that looked like Natsuru except with black hair turned into some sort of cloud of black smoke and flowed into his body. It seemed to overshadow his own mind and took control of him, and after that, his Gauntlet turned grey."

"The one who looked like me…he mentioned the Schatten would cover this world in darkness….What does that mean?" I asked. Midori shrugged before answering.

"Well, the Schatten seem to be what they call themselves, but as for what the whole thing about covering the world in darkness, it totally beats me." She replied. "Bu7t there's one thing that I know for sure, it's time for us to fuse again." I didn't know how that could happen, but then, I remembered that I had this new Gauntlet, as Midori called it. So I figured that meant that I was a Kampfer again.

"Well…..okay then." I replied. Midori and I got into position as I suddenly remembered what the moves for the Fission Dance were. After we both preformed the dance, we had fused into one whole again, but this time, I was in my normal form.

"_Hey, can you hear me?_" Midori's voice echoed in my head. I jumped back in surprise as I heard her speak.

"Hey! Wait a minute! How the hell can I hear you in my head?" I asked.

"_Oh yeah, about that, the Oath Gauntlets come with some improvements over the bracelets from before. Like for example, you can talk to me like I can talk to you right now._" Midori said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well I want to know how to make this Gauntlet seem less suspicious-looking. Call me crazy, but people will start to stare if they see a guy walking around with a metal Gauntlet around his arm, you know." I said. And almost as if the Gauntlet could hear me, it transformed into a small watch in an instant. "That'll work." I added in surprise.

"Well, what about me?" A voice said from behind Shizuku and me. We turned around to see that Shizuku's Kampfer counterpart was standing right behind us. "I didn't come here with her just to not fuse with my old partner again." And with that, Kampfer Shizuku walked over to the normal Shizuku and placed a hand on her shoulder. Within an instant, she transformed into a pale purple light that flowed into Shizuku's body. After the two Shizukus had fused, a purple version of the Gauntlet I wore appeared on her arm as well.

"Well…I guess that we're both Kampfer again." I said as the two of us stared at each other without any other words.

"I guess so…" Shizuku replied with a smile.

"I guess we should head home for now." I said as I started to walk out of the park as Shizuku hurried to catch up with me. My old apartment building was actually on the way to Shizuku's home, so we passed by there when we were headed back so I could drop her off. But when we did, we were shocked to see a horrible sight.

There were Ambulances, fire engines, and police cars scattered everywhere around the building as far as the eye could see. The building itself was on fire near the upper half of the building but was quickly spreading. People-more than likely residents-were being wheeled out of the building on gurneys and placed into the Ambulances. Although, there was one that stood out from all the others. The long gingery brown hair and glasses were distinguishable through the numerous wounds and burn marks.

After all, this was the woman who gave birth to me.

"Mom…" I exclaimed quietly as I rushed onto the scene….

_**Well…that was a shocking ending. But this was just the first chapter, so things will be somewhat oriented towards small mini-plots. So, next chapter, we will see if Mamoru's mother is okay and if she'll make it. And we'll also see the first full battle against the mysterious Schatten that have appeared out of nowhere.**_

_**Oh yeah, and for the record, I could have gotten this out sooner, but my heart was shattered for the past few days. The reason, two words: Angel Beats. I finished watching Angel Beats two days ago, and let me tell you for those of you who have not watched the anime (which i do recommend, as it is a very good anime), the ending is SOOOOO FREAKING SAD! My heart was literally broken into a million pieces and blown away in the wind because of the ending which i will not spoil.**_

_**I know, i'm a top-class Anime Nerd. I am fully aware of this, but i'm proud of it.**_

_**See you later!**_

**:D**


	2. Chapter 2: Explosion! Mamoru's Anger!

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 2: Explosion! Mamoru's Anger

_**I really don't have anything to say for once….damn, that's a first.**_

_**I know! I'll do the first disclaimer of the story!**_

_**I do not own Kampfer. I only own Mamoru Tsuyoshi, the Green Kampfer, the Grey Kampfer, and the Schatten. Oh, yeah, and the Super Kampfer.**_

_**Enjoy**_ **:D**

"Well…I guess that we're both Kampfer again." I said as the two of us stared at each other without any other words.

"I guess so…" Shizuku replied with a smile.

"I guess we should head home for now." I said as I started to walk out of the park as Shizuku hurried to catch up with me. My old apartment building was actually on the way to Shizuku's home, so we passed by there when we were headed back so I could drop her off. But when we did, we were shocked to see a horrible sight.

There were Ambulances, fire engines, and police cars scattered everywhere around the building as far as the eye could see. The building itself was on fire near the upper half of the building but was quickly spreading. People-more than likely residents-were being wheeled out of the building on gurneys and placed into the Ambulances. Although, there was one that stood out from all the others. The long gingery brown hair and glasses were distinguishable through the numerous wounds and burn marks.

After all, this was the woman who gave birth to me.

"Mom…" I exclaimed quietly as I rushed onto the scene. I ran up to my mother as she was being wheeled out of the building. "Mom! Mom are you alright?" I asked with heavy concern.

"Yes…Yes I'm…alright…Mamoru…." Mom said weakly.

"What happened?" I asked.

"There….There was an explosion, and….and then…I can't remember what happened after that…." Mom said. "Mamoru…I….I love you so much….I just want you to know that in case I don't pull through…."

"Don't talk like that! Of course you'll make it. I know you will." I said as they wheeled her away once more. I just stood and stared at them as they lifted her gurney into the back of one of the Ambulances and closed the doors before driving off. I walked over to a nearby police officer and got his attention.

"What can I help you with?" the officer asked.

"I'm curious if you know who did this to the building and its residents." I asked.

"Actually, we just finished collecting data, so it'll be a while before we know who it is." the officer replied.

"Well, thank you anyways." I said kindly before walking back across the street to where Shizuku was still waiting.

"Do you want to go to the hospital to see if your mom is alright?" Shizuku asked after a few minutes of silence from me.

"As long as you don't mind." I said after a minute.

"No, I don't mind, I'd actually like to see as well if she's alright. And besides, I don't want you just waiting in there all by yourself." Shizuku replied.

"Well, OK then, let's go." I said as we changed direction. After a few minutes, we arrived at the city hospital and went inside. We stopped in front of the main desk and the woman behind it started at us for a moment.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, we are looking for a Kimiko Tsuyoshi." I said politely. The woman did a few things on the computer next to her and then turned back to us.

"Let's see….Kimiko Tsuyoshi…yes, she just arrived a few minutes ago and is scheduled for immediate surgery for a fatal injury she received. And afterwards, she was supposed to be placed in the ICU." the woman said.

_**(A/N: If you want this scene to seem really sad, then listen to My Song. This is a song from the Anime that I keep bringing up; Angel Beats. Listen to the full version, by the way.)**_

"Thank you." I said before Shizuku and I walked off to the waiting area in a nearby room. We waited for hours on end as we awaited the doctors' findings. We waited and waited until finally, we saw a doctor walking towards us he stopped in front of us and led us out into the hall.

"So…how is she, doctor?" I asked.

"Well, there is a problem…the surgery we had to perform was to remove a bullet in her head, but when we tried to remove it, we realized that it was near too many vital spots of the brain. So we were unable to remove it without risking any further damage. And…well….unfortunately, she didn't manage to make it. Even if we had performed the surgery, the injury would have killed her soon enough, so all we could do was wait for that to happen. I'm truly sorry…but there was nothing that we could have done…." the doctor said solemnly before walking off without another word.

"Mamoru…." Shizuku began as she walked over to me slowly. I pounded my fist against the wall and ignored the pain that went through it as tears began to stream down my face.

"I…I can't believe this…." I said quietly.

"Mamoru…there was nothing that they could have done." Shizuku said calmly.

"I'm not mad at the doctor or the surgeons…..I'm angry with the one who did this in the first place." I said, feeling my anger build.

"Mamoru…please calm down." Shizuku said.

"They killed my mother, Shizuku!" I said, realizing that I had just raised my voice. "How do you expect me to calm down when I've just learned that my mother is dead because of someone who's still out there." I started to walk off, but Shizuku had walked forward and grabbed my shoulder.

"Shizuku….please let go of my shoulder." I said in my calmest voice possible. "Shizuku…."

"Mamoru, please, don't go and do anything reckless." Shizuku pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Shizuku…but right now, I just need some time to myself if you don't mind." I said as I got out of Shizuku's grip and started walking off. I left the hospital behind me as I just started walking. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew it was anywhere but here. I noticed that it was now raining, but I didn't care at all. I just started running in the dark of night with the rain pouring down on me and soaking my clothes. My emotions were such a mess then that I just couldn't take it anymore and fell to my knees and let my sadness just come out.

"Why….why God….Why are you taking my family away from me?" I shouted to the sky in anger. After a few minutes of being engulfed in sobs, I stood up and changed my direction so that I was headed towards the police station. It was time to get some answers…..

…_**...**_

"Well, we did manage to get some info on the man who was responsible for the explosion." A police officer said to me some time after I had reached the station. He took out a folder that was stuffed with papers and handed it to me. "He goes by the codename Dark Strike. We've had some problems with him in the past, so we have plenty of info on him. But, may I ask, what do you intend to do with this information?" I turned to the officer and finally answered.

"I'm just curious as to who he is." I said. I handed the folder back to the officer and walked out of the station. I had all the information I needed. I knew where his hideout was. I went towards the outskirts of the Shibuya 109 district and after a half hour found the place I was looking for; an old abandoned store in Shibuya that was actually a two story store that specialized in clothing and also doubled as a pawn shop. It's been abandoned for years, but it seems fitting for someone with a reputation as Dark Strike to hide out.

"_Are you sure that you want to do this?_" I heard Midori ask me in my head.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I want to make him pay for what he did." I replied. I walked up to the door and kicked it open with all my might. I walked inside and looked around. The bottom floor of the store was the clothing portion of it. It still contained all the racks and shelves from when it was still in business yet lacked the clothing for the shelves and racks. I heard a noise from the upper level and made my way to the staircase that curved upwards to the top floor. I climbed the stair case and found myself at the top floor.

That was where I saw a man that was easily in his early twenties clad in all black with golden yellow hair trying to climb out a nearby window when he saw me. I ran over and grabbed him by the back of the black trench coat he wore and yanked him back into the room as he landed flat on his back.

The first thing that I noticed about his face was that he wore a grey demonic looking mask that had two very small eyeholes. The strange thing was that he wasn't even talking, he just stood up in a manner that was almost machine-like, as if something else other than him was controlling his movements and actions.

Suddenly, my watch began to glow and transformed into its normal Gauntlet form. It then let forth a beam of light that struck the mask and shattered it like glass. The instant the mask left his face, his expression changed from blank and empty to shocked and confused. I noticed that there was an odd looking stream of black smoke flowing out of his back and disappeared. The man looked around, clearly unsure of where he was, then he saw me and jumped back.

"W-who are you…what are you doing here in my hideout?" He asked. I moved with great speed and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall next to me.

"Do you know anything about the explosion that happened over at the hoshi place Apartments?" I asked coldly.

"I-I-I have no idea what you're talking about." the man said, obviously trying to lie. I tightened my grip on his shirt and twisted my face into a furious glare.

"Don't play around with me! I know that you were the one who caused that explosion!" I shouted.

"Okay! Okay! I did it! But that doesn't explain why you're here." the man replied fearfully.

"Know anyone by the name of Kimiko Tsuyoshi?" I asked furiously. "Spill it!"

"Y-Yes, I know her….I was ordered by my boss to kill her…Something about luring her son out or something like that. He wants this Mamoru guy dead for whatever reason." the man said as he trembled. That set me off for sure.

"Well, this isn't your lucky day…You want to know why?" I asked, tightening my grip on him even more. I could feel him gulp as I held his shirt since my hand was so close to his throat.

"W-Why….?" the man asked.

"I'M MAMORU TSUYOSHI!" I shouted as I brought him forward and slammed him into the wall again, harder this time however. "I'm the son of Kimiko Tsuyoshi! You killed my mother you monster!" I could feel him tremble in fear as I spoke.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know you were her son…please spare me." the man said in terror.

"You think that I really would go easy on you after what you did…? What the hell are you thinking?" I said as I lifted him into the air. "And another thing, what was with that mask of yours?" I added.

"I was told not to tell anyone about that…" the man replied. I was getting less impatient by the moment.

"Well, it seems that you need some encouragement…" I said as I lifted him over to the window and held him over the gap between the window and the solid pavement below. "I'll give you five seconds to tell me about that mask. With each second that passes, I take one finger away from the hand that's keeping you in the air. If you don't answer in time….I think you know what happens next." I began to count the seconds.

"One…" I took my pinkie and curled it in so that is was no longer helping hold him in the air. "Two…" I took my ring finger and did the same. "Three…." I took my middle finger and removed it from the mix I now only had my index finger and my thumb to keep him in the air. That was when he finally decided to speak up.

"Okay! Okay…..! I'll tell you! My mask was given to me by my boss. He said that it would give me power beyond my wildest dreams and that I would use it to kill your mother. T-that's all I know, I swear." he said in absolute fear. I held him with my full hand and tossed him behind me across the floor as he came to a stop nearly on the other side of the room. I turned to face him and approached him.

"What are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here…I got the answers I wanted. And plus, you're pretty terrified right now, so I think as for making you pay, I've made my point." I said coldly. "But….don't ever cross me again. Don't ever let me see you again, don't ever let me hear you again, if you're within my earshot or sight, I will make sure you regret it. If you're in the same room as me, you better get the hell out of it before I know that you're there. If you cross my path or any of my friends' or families' paths, I will judge you for it." And with that, I kicked him in the stomach before leaving the building behind and walking back into the rain-drenched city….

…_**...**_

It had been three days since that night, the night when I had confronted my mothers' killer. I had hidden myself away from everyone else, even Shizuku. I just didn't have the courage to talk to her again after what happened. On the third afternoon, I got a call from Shizuku. I was debating whether or not to answer it and talk to her, because frankly, I still wasn't sure how I could face her after that night. I decided to pick it up at the last second and didn't say anything at first, but I finally swallowed my pride and spoke.

"H-hello…" I said.

"Mamoru….it's Shizuku. Could we talk?" Shizuku asked.

"What about?" I asked.

"Well…the other night when y-" Shizuku began but was interrupted by some sort of crash. Then I heard the sound of a thump and feared for the worst.

"Shizuku!" I exclaimed. Then I heard another voice on the other end of the line.

"It's been a while…" Said the voice of Dark Strike, the thug that had killed my mother. Except…his voice seemed different…almost monotonous in nature. "My boss wants a few words with you…But6 you'll have to come here to do so. Otherwise, your friend gets corrupted." That was all he said before hanging up. I quickly bolted out of my room and out of the apartment itself. I ran with all my might until I reached Shizuku's place.

I saw immediately that the door was kicked down as I ran inside to see that the thug from before was there in the sitting room along with Shizuku, who was tied up, and another figure. The figure that was my dark counterpart in fact.

"You again?" I said in shock. "What the hell do you want this time?"

"I want to build my army of Dark Puppets….And I think that your friend here would make an excellent addition…." Dark Mamoru said as he held up a mask that was similar to the one that the thug wore.

"What are those masks for?" I asked.

"These masks….are the objects that mark those who have chosen to serve the Schatten. They latch onto the wearer and corrupt their mind so that their only focus is carrying out the will of the Schatten." Dark Mamoru replied.

"And who are these Schatten that you speak so fondly of?" I asked.

"The Schatten are the embodiments of the darkness and hatred that lies within the hearts and minds of the Kampfer. They are far superior to them in every way, which is why we plan to cover your world in our darkness, transforming all human beings into dark, twisted versions of themselves. And then, all will bow to the Schatten and their might." Dark Mamoru explained. "I myself am a Schatten, but you may also think of me as a Grey Kampfer." I transformed into my Kampfer state and readied myself for battle. Dark Mamoru smirked and brought the mask closer to Shizuku's face. The mask began to glow and pulse with a sickly purple light as it got closer.

"Don't you touch her!" I shouted. Dark Mamoru simply ignored me and continued what he was doing, bringing the mask closer and closer to Shizuku's face. "I…said….DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Suddenly, my body began to glow with a bright green light that became brighter and brighter by the second. With each moment that passed, I could feel power building up inside of me and multiplying my strength many times over.

" ! " I shouted as I felt one final surge of power and then, it stopped abruptly. I could feel an enormous energy flowing through my body as I looked over at my reflection in a mirror that was next to me. My hair had turned forest green in color while my bangs had become spiked and more rigid looking. My eyes had also turned a bright shade of green as well. And to top it all off, an aura of light surrounded my body.

"It's just like when I fought the Moderators…." I said softly.

"Y-you…you're capable of performing Ascension?" Dark Mamoru asked in shock.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm a Super Kampfer, Mamoru Tsuyoshi." I said. I leaped forward and summoned my longsword, but found that I also now had a shield to go with it. I knocked Dark Mamoru off of his feet and snatched the mask out of his hand. I then proceeded to smash the object into pieces as I brought my foot down on it. Dark Mamoru stepped back in fear as I faced him.

"I think that I'll finish this in one move." I said cockily as I charged my blade with electrical energy while also infusing my entire body with energy as well. "Let's go! Ohm Blade Rush!" I cried out as I lunged forward and started slashing furiously at my foe, each slash sending shocks through hiss body.

With my body infused with electrical energy, I could move much faster than normal, which helped with my attack. And with one final slash, I sent my foe flying backwards into the wall. Afterwards, he dissolved into a cloud of black smoke and vanished. The thug then proceeded to run out of the house, his mask now shattered and freeing him from Dark Mamoru's control. I walked over to Shizuku and used my sword to untie her and help her up onto her feet. I transformed back into my normal form and turned away from Shizuku, not saying a word for a moment.

"Shizuku….I'm so sorry for the way that I snapped at you the other day. I…I don't know what came over me. I know that I probably can't make it up to you, but I just want you to know that I'm so…so sorry for what I did…." I said. Shizuku didn't say anything, but rather walked up to me and hugged me tightly. At this point, I was sort of confused yet relieved. "I-I don't understand…..I thought that you'd be angry with me." I could feel the front of my shirt start to slightly dampen in one spot. I looked down to see that tears were streaming out of Shizuku's eyes.

"Mamoru….I was never angry with you…I was sad. I'd thought that you'd lost your way. That you had let your anger and hatred control you….But I can see that that isn't the case." Shizuku said as I took my hand and used the back of it to wipe her tears from her face.

"Well….I'll be honest, I was close to the point of no return, but in the end, I just couldn't kill him….even with all the anger in the world….I just couldn't kill the man responsible for my mothers' death." I said. "I don't know if it's because I'm too weak or something else…but I'm glad that I came to my senses."

"So am I." Shizuku replied with a smile. "I prefer this Mamoru over a rage super-charged Mamoru."

"Yeah…sorry about the mess by the way." I said, taking a look around the room to see the mess I had made in that last battle.

"It's alright, it wasn't too bad at least." Shizuku said.

"Well, I guess I'll be on my way for now." I said. I gave Shizuku a quick kiss before I left and headed back to my apartment.

"_That was pretty impressive back there._" Midori replied in my head.

"Yeah, that reminds me, what was that thing that Dark Mamoru said about being able to perform Ascension?" I asked.

"_Well, this sort of goes back to when we fought the Moderators. More specifically, when Hikari died. Remember, you had gotten so angry that it triggered a transformation and it made you more powerful._" Midori replied. "_That was a Kampfer technique called Ascension; it allows you to execute a transformation in order to increase your power and speed."_

"Huh, that's actually pretty interesting. So I can become a more powerful fighter by just transforming?" I asked."

"_Yep, that's correct._" Midori replied. I looked down at my Gauntlet and wondered what other sort of power I had access to now.

"I have so much power now….but will it be enough to defeat these Schatten for good….?" I asked myself…

_**(sigh) Okay, guys, that's chapter 2. Next chapter….I'm not going to tell you about at all. That's right! That's how evil I am!**_

_**!**_

_**Anyways, hope you liked this chapter and I also hope that you'll enjoy the next one as well.**_

_**See you later guys. :D**_


	3. Chapter 3: Natsuru

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 3: Natsuru

_**It's time for chapter 3!**_

_**This chapter will introduce Natsuru into the story, as he will be the first of the main antagonists. The story itself will have two such people, Dark Natsuru and Dark Mamoru. Also, we will see another character in this chapter that can use Ascension like Mamoru; I will not spoil who it is, but keep on the lookout.**_

_**Also, I have decided to postpone the second Kampfer fan fiction that I had promised you guys until further notice, since I am working on another story alongside this one as it is.**_

_**So, without further due, enjoy! **_**:D**

I was walking through the Shibuya 109 shopping district one morning, simply minding my own business and thinking back on the past week's events. The appearance of the mysterious Schatten, the death of my mother, my confrontation with the one responsible, and even the unveiling of my untapped power as a Kampfer.

I was certainly in for a new adventure. Currently, there have been no more Schatten appearances, which sort of worries me honestly. Suddenly, I bumped into someone while I was engulfed in my thoughts and the both of us fell to the ground.

"Ow…." said a familiar voice. I looked over to see Kaede lying on the ground and rubbing her head. I stood up and helped Kaede onto her feet. She looked over at me and gasped in surprise. "Mamoru…"

"He he…sorry about that, Kaede, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." I said scratching the back of my head.

"It's okay, but that set aside…it's been a while hasn't it." Kaede replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, I think that we haven't really seen much of each other since graduation, so I think maybe a year at most." I said. I looked down at my watch to see that it was giving off a pale green light; I then noticed that a small charm bracelet on Kaede's' arm was also emitting a faint purple glow. Both objects suddenly transformed into their standard Gauntlet forms after a few seconds.

"I sort of expected that to happen…" I said. "I had heard that Natsuru got captured by those new Schatten that have appeared, so I figured that you would be a Kampfer as well." Kaede's' face then became slightly more solemn.

"Yeah…." Kaede said. I walked over to Kaede and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Kaede….don't worry, we're going to bring him back, just like we did two years ago." I reassured her.

"I know, but….Natsuru is different now…he's been consumed by his darker side, I'm not sure if it'll be quite so easy this time…." Kaede replied. Suddenly, I saw some sort of meteor-like object coming towards the shopping district at an astounding speed, and not only that, but it was headed right for the two of us.

I grabbed Kaede's' hand and pulled her along as I made a break for it just as the object struck the ground where we just were and sent out a massive shockwave. The shockwave reached us all too quickly and knocked us forward a considerable distance. The last thing I remember was the dark clouds that were descending into the sky and blotting out the sun, which was when I lost consciousness and fell into darkness…..

_**….**_

When I woke up, it was an awakening in utter darkness. I sat up and looked around, I was still in Shibuya, that much was certain, but everywhere I looked, there was nothing but darkness, everything was engulfed in this strange and icy cold darkness. That was when I noticed it; a gigantic meteor that glowed a sickly purple color was sitting in a small crater not too far away from me. A beam of the same sort of light was being emitted from the rock and was aimed directly skyward. As I looked up, I also noticed that there were clouds that completely overtook the skies, the clouds themselves were so dark a gray that one could even say that they were almost black.

I looked over to my left and noticed that Kaede was lying on the ground next to me and still unconscious. I tried to wake her, but it seemed to be no good. Suddenly, I heard a noise nearby, it sounded like someone was moving towards us.

"Who's there?" I said as I stood up and looked around for any signs of life. Only now did I notice that the streets were practically littered with the unconscious bodies of a decent portion of Tokyo's population. They seemed to be surrounded by clouds of black smoke that felt as though they had some sort of…..some sort of consciousness of their own. Suddenly, I heard a noise again but this time, it was closer than before.

"Who's there? Come out and show yourself coward!" I shouted into the streets. That was when I saw them; a group of easily ten people, but these weren't normal people, they all wore one of those strange looking demonic masks on their faces. I started to piece together what was happening and quickly kneeled down and tried to wake Kaede again, but it still wasn't successful. I then decided to just take a different approach and proceeded to pick Kaede up and carry her over my shoulder. At this point, I just ran and tried to get away from the mob of Dark Puppets.

I ran and ran, but there always seemed to be another mob of the pursuers that would appear from around a corner or would just be directly in my path. Eventually, I heard a small voice behind me.

"M-Mamoru…" I heard Kaede say weakly. "Mamoru, what's going on?"

"I'll explain later, but for now, we need to get out of here ASAP." I replied as I spotted a small shop that had an opened door. I quickly ran inside and shut the door, making sure to lock it as well. I sighed and walked over to where there was a chair and gently placed Kaede in it.

"That was close." I said with a sigh. "Are you felling okay, can you stand up?"

"I think so." Kaede said as she attempted to do so. She managed to stand up and walked around. "What are we going to do now?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to try and figure out what exactly is going on in Tokyo." I replied. I noticed that there was a small television over to my right and walked in front of it. "Hmmm, maybe there's something on the news that can hint toward this." I turned the TV on and saw that the news was already on.

"_What is happening in the city of Tokyo?" the reporter said. "Looking at the great city, it appears that it has succumbed to a strange darkness that has completely covered the sky. Meteor-like objects have appeared to have crashed in multiple spots around the city, and they seem to have something to do with not only the darkening of the sky, but also the appearance of civilians that are wearing odd masks. These civilians appear to be attacking others and placing these masks on the faces of those who don't wear them" the reporter paused for a brief moment before continuing. "I am now receiving information that this sort of event has been happening worldwide. What is going on here, and how can we stop it?"_ I turned the TV off and tried to take all of this in.

"What…what the hell is going on here?" I asked myself. "There's no doubt that the Schatten are involved in this, but what are they trying to do."

"Mamoru, what are we going to do?" Kaede asked. I thought and I thought, and I realized that there was only one good option.

"We need to get out of Tokyo, and maybe Japan if necessary. First, we need to go and find Shizuku, Akane, and Mikoto, and then we need to gather supplies probably. And after that, we need to find some sort of transportation to get around in." I explained.

"Are you sure?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. This is possibly the only plan that will help us remain safe." I said. I walked over to the front of the shop and looked out the window, the mob was no longer present, but there were still two figures outside. One was Natsuru, except this Natsuru had jet black hair and crimson eyes. And the other was a girl that looked like Kaede, except with blood red hair and eyes that were equally as red.

"Damnit…" I mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Kaede asked.

"Well, it looks like we have some visitors." I said. I gestured for Kaede to come and look out the window and when she did, she saw the pair outside and a semi-worried look appeared on her face.

"Natsuru…." Kaede said in shock. I opened the door to the shop and stepped outside to face the pair.

"And here I thought that you two were going to keep hiding in there like a couple of frightened animals." Dark Natsuru said with a chuckle.

"What the hell do you two want?" I said coldly.

"We just came here to see if you two were up for a little battle." Dark Kaede replied with an evil grin.

"Exactly, if we win, then you two will have to stay here and be consumed by the darkness of the Schatten. But if you win….then you may leave as you so please, but in the end, it won't do you any good anyways. This entire world has fallen prey to our power." Dark Natsuru said.

"Natsuru...why...why would you fight with them...?" Kaede asked. "What happened to you...?"

"I guess you could say that I saw the light...by stepping into the darkness. It doersn't hurt, you know. It's actually quite thrilling when you're corrupted." Dark Natsuru said evilly. "I experienced that firsthand when my darker half took me in, you can still join the winning side, that is, if you wish to do so."

"N-no...I wouldn't dpo such a thing." Kaede said. "I'm done with being evil. That's something i'll never do again." Dark Natsuru frowned at her response.

"Well, alright then, you'll just have to join us the hard way." Dark Natsuru said with an evil smirk. "What do you say? Are you still up for a fight?"

"You're on!" I replied confidently as Kaede and I both transformed into our Kampfer forms. The four of us charged forward and the battle began. Dark Natsuru and I were locked in a clash while the two Kaede's' were locked in a clash of their own. I swung my longsword at Dark Natsuru, but he managed to dodge the blow and swung at me with a blade comprised of black fire, but I dodged that as well.

The two of us rushed at each other and tried time after time to strike each other only to have the other one dodge the attack. This process repeated itself over and over again until Dark Natsuru was able to hit me in the upper shoulder. I fell onto my knees in agony as the searing pain coursed throughout my entire arm.

"Now….this should be much easier…" Dark Natsuru said as he readied his fiery blade for another strike. "Any last words…."

"Just….three…of them…" I said as I stood up. "Ascension….Super Kampfer!" My body began to glow with a bright green light as I felt strength filling my body as the seconds passed. I could feel my strength multiplying until finally, I felt the transformation finish itself. Dark Natsuru stepped back in surprise.

"So….it's true what Dark Mamoru said, you can use Ascension…" he said in awe.

"Yeah, and just like last time, I can finish you off with just a few moves." I said cockily. I lunged forward and assaulted my opponent with my longsword and knocked him back with a thrust of my new shield. After that, I focused electric energy into my feet and started literally running circles around my opponent.

"What the hell is this….?" Dark Natsuru asked. I could feel my speed doubling and then tripling as I ran faster and faster around him. I then proceeded to tire electric blasts at Dark Mamoru as I continued to run in a circle, each blast hitting him from a different direction

After a few seconds of assaulting him, I stopped in front of Dark Natsuru and with a single blast of electrical energy; I sent him flying backwards onto the ground. Dark Natsuru slowly stood up and glared at me.

"Ha! I actually sort of thought that would have finished you off." I said.

"You'll….you'll never truly beat the Schatten until…you accept…your true….emotions…." Dark Natsuru said as he vanished in a puff of black smoke.

"What could that mean….? " I wondered. I looked over and saw that Kaede was in need of some help in fighting her dark counterpart. I ran over as she was knocked back by a strike from the top portion of Dark Kaede's rifle.

"Kaede, are you alright?" I asked as I helped her up.

"Yeah, I'm alright….It's just; I don't know what's going on here. No matter what I do, I can't seem to hit her." Kaede replied. Dark Kaede simply stood where she was and laughed at the sight.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe that you haven't figured it out yet." Dark Kaede said.

"What are you talking about?" Kaede asked.

"Don't you get it? I am you. I know everything about you. I even know what sort of emotions you're hiding, emotions that you're keeping buried beneath everything else." Dark Kaede replied.

"I-I-I have no idea what you're talking about." Kaede said.

"You mean to say that you don't know about your feelings towards what happened to Natsuru?" Dark Kaede asked mockingly.

"Shut up! I don't know what you're talking about!" Kaede said.

"I know what I'm talking about. You were so heartbroken over the whole thing. You were so upset with yourself that you didn't know what to do. You were always like 'I wish I could have done something to prevent this' And you even blamed yourself for what happened. Ha! What a joke." Dark Kaede said. "Just face it, that's what you're feeling and you're only denying it, trying to pretend that it isn't true."

"No…shut the hell up! You're not me! It isn't true!" Kaede shouted. "You're not me!" Suddenly, Dark Kaede began to glow a deep red as her hair darkened to a dark scarlet color.

"Yes….That's it, just keep denying it, and I'll just grow more powerful." She said as then aura grew brighter.

"Kaede! Stop, you're only making her more powerful!" I shouted. "I need to try and stop her while she's busy puffing herself up…" I began to charge my sword with massive amounts of electrical energy. I could feel the charge building up more and more by the second as more power filled the blade.

I continued to charge the blade until I couldn't anymore and swung the blade through the air, sending a massive wave of energy at Dark Kaede. The wave struck her in the chest and sent her flying backwards, but she still stood and continued to grow more powerful.

"Damnit!" I cursed.

"I-I think I understand now…." I heard Kaede say from behind me. She stepped in front of me and I noticed that she had a serious look on her face.

"Kaede…." I said.

"What she said is true….I was sad and upset over what happened to Natsuru. It was just like two years ago, I wished I could have done something to prevent it, and I tried to hide it from everyone. I…I understand now….this whole time, I've been denying my true emotions, but if I keep doing that, then I'll never be able to face myself." Kaede said. "That's why…I accept my emotions. I won't deny them anymore!"

Suddenly, Kaede began to glow a bright violet color as a small breeze started to pick up. Kaede's aura grew brighter by the second until I could hardly see a thing. The light vanished almost as soon as it appeared, leaving Kaede in the same place, yet she looked different. Her body now glowed with a faint purple light that illuminated most of the street. Her hair had also changed too; it had become a fiery orange that was so vibrant that I thought it actually gave off its own light.

"Kaede….?" I said in shock as she turned to face me. I immediately noticed that her eyes were a bright shade of cyan as well.

"Mamoru…let me handle this for now. I know that I can take her on now." Kaede said plainly. I nodded in response as she rushed forward at Dark Kaede and summoned her katana.

"It's been a while since I used this old thing. Let's see if I can still use it." Kaede said as she started assaulting dark Kaede with the blade. By the time she was done, Dark Kaede's clothes had been shredded quite a bit. Kaede leaped backwards and summoned her rifle. Taking aim, she fired a single bullet that rocketed forward and struck Dark Kaede dead in the chest. Dark Kaede went falling backwards onto the ground and didn't do anything else. After a minute, she stood up and just stood there motionless, as if she were waiting for something.

"I…I understand now…." Kaede said softly as she stepped towards her dark counterpart who still did not move a muscle. "You are me….And I am you….You're a part of me that I tried to hide, I tried denying the emotions that I was feeling inside when Natsuru was captured by the Schatten….I wanted to ignore it and pretend that it was all a dream, but in the end….It won't help me save Natsuru, my unaccepted emotions will only hold me back. So that's why I won't deny my thoughts anymore."

Dark Kaede gave a smile in return for Kaede's words. But this was a smile filled with warmth instead of evil, a smile filled with kindness instead of darkness. Kaede placed a hand on her counterparts shoulder and the latter immediately transformed into a small cluster of sparkling light that flowed into Kaede's body and disappeared.

"What….just happened…?" Kaede asked.

"I think I can answer that." I replied. "I think I get it now too. The Schatten are not only our darker selves, but they're also created from our darkest emotions, emotions that we want to just deny. But that will only make them stronger, and you weaker. If you accept these emotions like you just did, then they can't hold you back. And the result of that was that you gained the ability of Ascension." Kaede then transformed back into her normal form and smiled at me with the same smile she was given by her counterpart.

"Well, what do we do now?" Kaede asked.

"Well, first, we need to find the others; they might need help in fighting the Schatten as well. Then we need to gather supplies and find some sort of method of getting around. Once we do that, we can leave and try to fix things around the world. Tokyo may be safe for the present moment, but we'll need to come back here eventually." I said.

"But, that's easier said than done, Mamoru." Kaede replied. "How are we going to get supplies or anything else like that?"

"I have a feeling it'll work out somehow." I replied as I transformed back into my normal form. "but first things first; we need to locate Shizuku, Akane, and Mikoto." And with that, Kaede and I walked throughout the town, the first step in our grand exodus underway….

_**OK, there's chapter 3. I'm really sorry for not getting this out on my regular update schedule, but I had one of the worst cases of writers block I've ever experienced, so that didn't help at all.**_

_**But nonetheless, the chapter's done and over with. Next chapter; we'll see the preparations for the exodus of our favorite protagonists as they venture off into the world to try and save it from the dark power of the Schatten.**_

_**And yes, I know that I sort of referenced Persona with the scene between the two Kaede's, but, hey that's what I'm all about; referencing something within something else that's completely unrelated to the reference.**_

_**Anyways, see you next chapter guys!**_

**:D**


	4. Chapter 4: Exodus

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 4: Exodus

_**Who's ready for chapter 4? Because I sure am!**_

_**In this chapter, we'll see how the group prepares for the Exodus from Japan. And in case you don't know, Exodus is a Greek word that means "to exit" or "departure". In the Bible, the Israelites did just that; they "departed" from Egypt. Sorry for the little off-topic thing there, but I thought that I should clear that up for those who were unaware. We will also get a chance to see the debut of my newest OC (I'm not spoiling who they are; you'll have to find out for yourself).**_

_**And don't worry, I'm not dead….yet….**_

_**Enjoy! **_**:D**

Suddenly, Kaede began to glow a bright violet color as a small breeze started to pick up. Kaede's aura grew brighter by the second until I could hardly see a thing. The light vanished almost as soon as it appeared, leaving Kaede in the same place, yet she looked different. Her body now glowed with a faint purple light that illuminated most of the street. Her hair had also changed too; it had become a fiery orange that was so vibrant that I thought it actually gave off its own light.

"Kaede….?" I said in shock as she turned to face me. I immediately noticed that her eyes were a bright shade of cyan as well.

"Mamoru…let me handle this for now. I know that I can take her on now." Kaede said plainly. I nodded in response as she rushed forward at Dark Kaede and summoned her katana.

"It's been a while since I used this old thing. Let's see if I can still use it." Kaede said as she started assaulting Dark Kaede with the blade. By the time she was done, Dark Kaede's clothes had been shredded quite a bit. Kaede leaped backwards and summoned her rifle. Taking aim, she fired a single bullet that rocketed forward and struck Dark Kaede dead in the chest. Dark Kaede went falling backwards onto the ground and didn't do anything else. After a minute, she stood up and just stood there motionless, as if she were waiting for something.

"I…I understand now…." Kaede said softly as she stepped towards her dark counterpart who still did not move a muscle. "You are me….And I am you….You're a part of me that I tried to hide, I tried denying the emotions that I was feeling inside when Natsuru was captured by the Schatten….I wanted to ignore it and pretend that it was all a dream, but in the end….It won't help me save Natsuru, my unaccepted emotions will only hold me back. So that's why I won't deny my thoughts anymore."

Dark Kaede gave a smile in return for Kaede's words. But this was a smile filled with warmth instead of evil, a smile filled with kindness instead of darkness. Kaede placed a hand on her counterparts' shoulder and the latter immediately transformed into a small cluster of sparkling light that flowed into Kaede's body and disappeared.

"What….just happened…?" Kaede asked.

"I think I can answer that." I replied. "I think I get it now too. The Schatten are not only our darker selves, but they're also created from our darkest emotions, emotions that we want to just deny. But that will only make them stronger, and you weaker. If you accept these emotions like you just did, then they can't hold you back. And the result of that was that you gained the ability of Ascension." Kaede then transformed back into her normal form and smiled at me with the same smile she was given by her counterpart.

"Well, what do we do now?" Kaede asked.

"Well, first, we need to find the others; they might need help in fighting the Schatten as well. Then we need to gather supplies and find some sort of method of getting around. Once we do that, we can leave and try to fix things around the world. Tokyo may be safe for the present moment, but we'll need to come back here eventually." I said.

"But, that's easier said than done, Mamoru." Kaede replied. "How are we going to get supplies or anything else like that?"

"I have a feeling it'll work out somehow." I replied as I transformed back into my normal form. "But first things first; we need to locate Shizuku, Akane, and Mikoto." And with that, Kaede and I walked throughout the town, the first step in our grand exodus underway. After a few minutes, Kaede spoke up.

"Mamoru, was what you said back there really true? About the Schatten being born from our darker emotions, that is." Kaede asked.

"I'm not totally sure; it's just a hunch right now. But….there was something that Natsuru said before he vanished that put me on that hunch. He said 'you'll never truly beat the Schatten until you accept your true emotions'. So if that's true; and seeing as you just accepted your emotions, then I can put two and two together and get this theory." I explained.

"Oh, well…I guess we should start searching for the others." Kaede replied.

"Yeah, you're right. So, who should we look for first?" I asked.

"Umm….I guess we should look for Shizuku first." Kaede said. I nodded and led the way as I changed direction to go to Shizuku's house. After a while, we arrived there to find that the place was a total mess, there were minute holes here and there on the outside of the house, and there were a few broken windows as well as the front door being kicked off its hinges. Kaede and I hurried inside and saw that the inside of the house was in similar condition.

"Hello! Shizuku….Are you here?" I called out. I suddenly heard a loud crash from another room that led me towards my suspicions. I ran into the kitchen to see Shizuku fighting off two corrupted citizens that wore those odd demonic masks. I transformed into my Kampfer form and rushed into the room.

"Shizuku, jump back now!" I shouted as I built up electricity in my hands. Shizuku immediately did as I asked and leaped back right before I formed two whips out of the energy in my hands. I jumped and spun in midair, the whips swinging around wildly before wrapping themselves around the two intruders and sending massive shocks through their bodies. The intruders fell to the ground and didn't move a muscle afterwards.

"Mamoru….when did you get here?" Shizuku asked.

"Just now, actually." I replied as I transformed back into my normal form.

"A-are they…dead?" Kaede asked as she entered the kitchen.

"No, they're just a little out of it. I hit them with enough energy to mildly electrocute them, but otherwise, they're not dead." I replied. "So, I take it that you already know about the current problem what with your two visitors." Shizuku nodded in response.

"Yes, I know a little, but I still don't know how we can stop this." Shizuku said.

"Well, our favorite Schatten have been busy since we last saw them, they've somehow managed to do what they said they would and have brought their darkness into our world. And according to the news, this has happened worldwide. Currently, the plan is to get out of Japan and try to figure out what we can do to fix all this. But first, we need to find Akane and Mikoto before we do this." I explained.

"You were lookin' for me eh?" I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around to see that Akane was not only in her Kampfer form but was also walking into the room and now stood next to Kaede. Akane's Kampfer form had definitely changed in two years; her hair was a bit longer and was pulled into a messy-looking braid, and if I wasn't mistaken, she had also grown a bit taller. "So, what's this I hear about a plan to leave Japan?"

"Well, I'm sure you already heard the details depending on how long you've been here, nut really all we need to do now is find Mikoto and then gather supplies and find some sort of transportation." I replied.

"Eh? That's easier said than done." Akane replied. "Mikoto's out of the country. She's in America I think." I sighed at the mention of this; I had completely forgotten that Mikoto had said she would be traveling the world after graduation.

"Oh yeah, I guess that we all know where we're headed first once we leave." I said. "Now all that's left is to get supplies and transportation."

"Right, I suggest that we all split up and gather different things and then meet back somewhere before we leave." Kaede added.

"Good idea Kaede. Alright, we'll need to collect clothing probably, medical supplies in case anyone gets injured, and everyone should bring along some money to be on the safe side. Are we all on the same page?" I said. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement. "Good, we'll all meet back up at the west part of Shibuya in an hour. Operation; start!" All of us exited Shizuku's house and started off in different directions.

_** …**_

After an hour had passed, I arrived at the west edge of the Shibuya district and waited for the others to arrive as well. A few minutes later, I saw Shizuku walking towards me carrying a large first-aid box and small duffel with her. I could also make out the outlines of Akane and Kaede walking in my direction too, each one carrying a suitcase and other miscellaneous things with them as well.

"Glad you were all able to make it." I said as I approached the others. "So, what did you all manage to get together?"

"I got the medical supplies." Shizuku replied.

"Akane and I actually worked together and collected some random things that we may need." Kaede added.

"What about you, Mamoru? What did you get/" Akane asked with curiosity.

"I sort of thought about this while I was at my place, it just sort of occurred to me; we'll probably need to have some food or drinks along with us to keep our strength up. So I went and bought some fresh food and drinks." I replied as I gestured to the large duffel and cooler sitting next to my suitcase. "And plus, I have plenty of money to use considering….the…uh….incident." I could feel tears start to build in my eyes before I blinked them back.

"Did I miss something here?" Kaede asked.

"N-no…it's nothing…." I replied. "Anyways….the money I have is probably somewhere around the neighborhood of thirty five thousand Yen."

"I have roughly twenty five thousand Yen." Akane added.

"Same here." Shizuku said.

"And I've got about twenty eight thousand Yen." Kaede replied.

"Good, then we should be ready. All we need to do is to find some sort of way to get around. I'm thinking that we need to find a boat or something, after all, we need to meet up with Mikoto in America." I said.

"Right, first, we need to get to Tokyo Bay, we can probably find a boat there." Akane said.

"You're right, but we also need to find a way to get there." I said. That was when I noticed that there was a bus not too far away from us. It was basically abandoned and there wasn't anyone near it, so it was safe to say that no one would miss it if it were gone. "I guess that solves that problem." I grabbed the bags I had brought and walked over to the bus. The others followed suit as I stepped onto the bus.

"Do you know how to drive this thing?" Shizuku asked as I set my bags down in the seat behind the drivers' seat and sat down in said seat.

"Of course I do, it's not that much different from a normal car." I replied as I saw the keys already in the ignition and started the bus up. I looked behind me to see that everyone was sitting in the second-to-front row and I started driving.

"Wait! Isn't this considered stealing?" Akane asked with worry.

"Relax Akane; we're just borrowing it for a while." I replied calmly. Suddenly, I saw that there was a huge mob of mask-wearing people trying to cut off our path.

"Mamoru, look out!" Kaede exclaimed.

"Dammit!" I said through gritted teeth. I quickly veered to the right and went down a side road in an attempt to get away from the interceptors. I looked in the rearview mirror and gasped at what I saw; the Dark Puppets were actually following us, running at an inhuman speed as they were almost on top of us.

"Girls, hang on to something!" I yelled as I began to speed up and swerve through the streets in yet another attempt to escape our pursuers. Eventually, we came to the point where there was a dead end ahead of us. I slammed the brakes and stood up after the bus had halted completely. I opened the bus doors and ran out to confront the mob of pursuers before transforming into my Kampfer form.

I then proceeded to perform the Fission Dance and split from Midori, and we began the attack; Midori slicing the air with her longsword and creating gusts of air to stun the mob while I wildly brandished my electric whips, each one striking a Dark Puppet and sending numerous shocks through their bodies to knock them unconscious. In the end, we managed to knock each one down and fused back into one being once more.

Suddenly, my gauntlet began to glow with a pale green light that seemed to spread itself across the road and the unconscious Dark Puppets, the moment the light reached them, the masks they wore shattered as if they were made of glass and the 'fragments' vanished into oblivion.

"Huh…? What just happened?" I asked myself as I transformed into my normal form.

"It sure _beats me._" Midori's voice echoed in my mind. I simply shrugged as I walked back onto the bus and sat down.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked the others who nodded in response. "Good…" I smiled as I started the bus up once more and turned around to go back the way we came. After a few minutes, we were back near Shibuya and I was trying to remember where to go exactly.

"What's wrong, Mamoru?" Shizuku asked.

"Well….I…uh…can't remember how to get to Tokyo Bay…ha ha/" I said nervously.

"I think I remember actually." Kaede said. "We shouldn't be too far away from there by the looks of where we are." I started driving once more as Kaede gave me directions. After another few minutes, we had arrived at Tokyo Bay and we found a place to leave the bus. We gathered our things and started walking toward the bay.

"Uh, guys, I just thought of another problem." Kaede said. "A majority if not all of the boats here are owned by someone." Kaede was absolutely right, the boats here are owned by the wealthier people in Tokyo, and so finding a boat here would be a bit challenging.

"You're right, Kaede. I'm not sure what we're going to do now because of that." I replied with a sigh.

"You need a boat?" A voice said from behind us. We turned around to see a girl around the age of seventeen or eighteen; her hair was a silvery white color that was tied into pigtails. Her eyes had a golden brown tint to them that seemed warm and inviting. As far as the rest of her appearance goes, she was an overall average looking person, well….except for the chest which poked out a surprising amount for a girl her age. She wore a sun dress that went down to her mid-shins and contained white and yellow designs all over it; this was coupled with a pair of black leather boots.

"Uh, who are you?" Akane asked.

"My name's…" the girl began but was interrupted by another voice calling in our direction.

"Ms. Satonaka! Ms. Satonaka, there you are." Said a woman that was running over to where we were. The woman was probably in her early to mid-twenties with medium-length raven colored hair. She also wore a typical maids' outfit interestingly enough. "Ms. Satonaka, I finally found you, I thought that I would have lost you." The woman noticed us and looked over in puzzlement but smiled immediately afterwards.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you four at first. I hope she didn't bother you too much." She said.

"Oh, no that's quite fine, we just came across her to be honest." I replied kindly.

"Well, anyways as I was saying, I heard that you guys need a boat." the girl said. "Because if you do, then I can be of help to you in this case."

"How can you do that?" Shizuku asked.

"My family owns a large boat, if you guys need tom use it, then you're welcome to do so."

"We can't just take your family's boat; for one thing we don't know when we would be done with it." Kaede said politely.

"Why is that?" the girl asked.

"Well….we're planning to leave Japan because of….recent events." I said as I gestured toward the sky.

"Oh…In that case, I want to come along too." the girl replied.

"Ms. Satonaka…" the older woman began.

"Aika, please, I know what I'm doing for a change." The girl said to her companion. I want to come with you guys, I want to see the world for once, you know? I want to experience what adventure is like."

"But, I'm sure that it'll be dangerous, I don't think that we need to drag anyone into this just so they can end up getting hurt." Shizuku replied.

"If t's me getting hurt you're worried about, then you don't need to. After all, we're all Kampfer, aren't we?" the girl asked with a smirk. Suddenly, her arm began to glow and reveal that what was originally a charm bracelet was now a purple gauntlet like ours.

"How did you know?" Kaede asked.

"I could sense your Kampfer energies when you first got here, so I just followed that and found you four." The girl replied. "By the way, my name's Kanade Satonaka, nice to meet you." Kanade bowed slightly as she introduced herself.

"And I'm Aika Tachibana; I'm what you may think of as Ms. Satonaka's maid." Aki said with a bow of her own.

"It's nice to meet the two of you; my name's Mamoru Tsuyoshi, and these are my friends; Akane Mishima, Shizuku Sango, and Kaede Sakura." I said gesturing to each of my friends in turn.

"Once again, nice to meet you all. But I still haven't gotten an answer on whether or not you guys want to use my family's boat. I'm coming with you guys anyway no matter what, so you may as well say yes." Kanade said with her hands on her hips.

"Uh…fine, you can come." I said after a moment.

"Great, I'll just lead you to the boat now." Kanade said as she started walking toward the bay. The rest of us followed suit and after a few minutes, we stopped in front of an enormous boat. It appeared to be modeled after a cruise ship, but it was a bit smaller than one.

T-this is your family's boat?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, it used to be a cruise ship, but my father bought it and now we own it and use it now and then." Kanade replied. "It's always stocked with food and other things too, so I guess that the food you brought can just add to that."

We walked up the small wooden bridge that led onto the boat and I knew right away that what Kanade said was true; it looked exactly what you would expect a cruise ship to be like, having numerous areas with lounge chairs in them on the deck we were on, and even a pool not too far away as well.

Kanade and Aika led us down into the lower parts of the ship, as we walked through the numerous halls, we saw multiple dining areas, all sorts of rooms with a variety of ways to entertain people, and we even passed through an entire section that was devoted to being a club. Eventually, we ended up near the midsection of the ship which was for the rooming accommodations.

"Ok, this is where you'll all be staying." Aika said. "I'll lead the girls to their rooms if you don't mind, Ms. Satonaka."

"Yes, that's fine Aika." Kanade replied as she led me to a door that was essentially across the hall from where the girls would be staying. I opened the door and saw that the room was basically the equivalent of a suite, being decorated with a red and gold pattern on the walls and separate rooms for the kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom. I placed my stuff down near the door and looked back over at Kanade.

"Hey, uh, thanks for doing this. But you really didn't have to, you know." I said nicely.

"Well, I wanted to, I mean, it's the least I could do for you guys letting me tag along." Kanade replied. "I guess I'll let you settle in for a while, see you later." Before Kanade had a chance to walk out of the room, I called back to her.

"So, Sempai, how have the past four years been treating you?" I asked. Kanade turned around and smiled.

"And here I thought that you'd forgotten about me after all this time…If you really want to know, then maybe later we can get together and catch up on old times." Kanade replied happily.

"that sounds good to me." I replied, returning her smile with my own.

"Well, like I said, I'll let you get settled in for now." Kanade said as she walked out and closed the door behind her. After she left, I walked over to where I had placed my bags, took them into my new room for who knows how long, and began to unpack them as old memories played themselves in my mind….

_**Like I said, I'm not dead yet….**_

_**Well, here you guys go, chapter 4 is FINALLY DONE! I'm sorry for the huge lack of updates, I had one of the most severe cases of writers' block I've ever experienced, but in the end I managed to get this done.**_

_**Next chapter; we'll see a bit more about Kanade and her past, as well as her SHARED past with Mamoru. So stay tuned!**_

**:D**


	5. Chapter 5: When We Were Young

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 5: When We Were Young

_**Time for chapter 5!**_

_**In this chapter; we'll find out more about Kanade Satonaka, my newest OC to appear in the story. We'll also get to see the past that Kanade and Mamoru shared together. This is going to be shown in flashback form just like in chapter 3 of Book One.**_

_**I do not own Kampfer; I only own Mamoru Tsuyoshi, Kanade Satonaka, the Green Kampfer, and the Schatten.**_

It had been a few hours since the others and I had set off on our newest adventure, and quite honestly, this might be interesting….considering we were going to have to travel across the world and stop any Schatten that we come across. I stepped out of one of the best showers of my life and wrapped a towel around my waist as I heard a knock on the front door of my room.

"Just a minute." I called out as I slipped on a bathrobe and walked to the door. I opened it to find Aika standing in front of me with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Good evening, Mr. Tsuyoshi." Aika said

"Oh, Aika, was there something you needed?" I asked.

"No, I was just checking in on everyone to see how they've settled in." Aika replied.

"I see. Might I ask, by the way, who is guiding this ship?" I asked.

"That would be my brother, Akihiko; he also works for Ms. Satonaka's family like me." Aika replied. "He's a bit of a downer at first, but I'm sure that the two of you would get along nicely."

"Possibly, he sounds like an interesting person." I replied with a chuckle.

"Well, dinner will be ready shortly. I'll come by and let all of you know when it is." Aika said before walking off. I closed the door behind me and went to go dry off and change into a new set of clothes before placing myself in a leather armchair in the small sitting room with a book in hand.

…_**.**_

About half an hour later, I heard another knock on the door. I placed my book down and went over to the door to find Aika once again when I opened it.

"Dinner is ready, Mr. Tsuyoshi." Aika said in her usual cheerful manner.

"Oh, thank you Aika." I replied kindly as I walked out into the hallway to see the girls standing out there as well. Aika then led us through the ship until we came into a large room that was exactly what you could expect a five-star restaurant to look like, that's really the best I can describe it to be honest. We all sat down at the large table in the center of the room and we were almost immediately served our food. We mostly ate in silence, the occasional small talk popping up, so after a while; Kaede decided to break the silence.

"You know, guys; I think that maybe we should choose someone to be our leader so that the team doesn't become 'disorganized'." Kaede said.

"You're right, Kaede, but who should be the leader?" Akane asked.

"Well…..what about Mamoru?" Shizuku suggested. This caught me off guard yet didn't really surprise me at all.

"Yeah, I agree with that. Mamoru is probably the most experienced Kampfer out of all of you. After all; I did train him myself." Kanade said with a confident smile.

"Glad to see that you're still not prideful, Sempai." I said teasingly while I rolled my eyes.

"Wait, so you and Kanade know each other already?" Shizuku asked.

"Yeah, when I was first starting out as a Kampfer, Kanade-Sempai was the one who sort of taught me the ropes and trained me to be the Kampfer you guys met two years ago." I replied.

"That's pretty incredible, Mamoru. But back to the task at hand, anyone else who agrees that Mamoru should be our leader?" Shizuku asked.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." Kaede replied.

"Same here." Akane added. "Well….As long as Mamoru's okay with it." Everyone looked over at me as I contemplated this and after a minute I spoke.

"Well, since everyone else thinks it's a good idea….then sure, why not." I answered. The others nodded at my answer.

"Then it's settled, Mamoru is now our leader in the fight against the Schatten." Kanade declared. We all continued to eat after that and we all went back to our rooms once we finished.

_**…..**_

It was later that night when I couldn't seem to be able to sleep, I kept tossing and turning in my bed, but just couldn't seem to find a comfortable position. And for some reason that I couldn't pinpoint, I felt as if there was something about the unnatural darkness that blanketed the sky outside that could be the cause of this. I finally just got out of bed and put on some new clothes. After that, I walked out the door and quietly crept down the hall as to not wake the girls.

I made my way to the top deck and saw that I was not alone. Kanade was also on the top deck, the other side of it to be precise, leaning with her back against the railing that separated her from the water below. Her gaze fixed on me as I walked casually over to where she was.

"So, I assume you can't sleep either, huh?" I asked her when I reached her location.

"Yeah, there's just something about this darkness that won't let me sleep." Kanade replied. She turned around and looked out at the ocean as if she were searching for something in particular. "You know….despite the darkness, the ocean really is pretty."

"Now that's the Sempai I know, always finding something good in even the worst of situations." I replied with a chuckle.

"Mamoru…why do you still call me Sempai?" Kanade asked as she faced me.

"Well, I mean why not? It's mostly out of respect though." I replied with a shrug. "I mean, without your help, I wouldn't be the Kampfer I am today"

_**(A/N: And for those of you who don't know; Sempai is a Japanese honorific that refers to one's senior colleagues, for example, a high school student would refer to anyone who is in a grade higher than them as Sempai. I am using this honorific in a similar way that one would use it in a business, where it would refer to a coworker that has more experience than oneself. You'll kind of get it before the chapter ends.)**_

"Yeah, but that's in the past though. You don't have to call me that anymore. I think that we're close enough that we really don't need honorifics." Kanade replied with a smile. "You know…there's always been something that was unique about you, something that I've never been able to figure out. And honestly, I'm still not sure what that is exactly."

"Falling for me, huh?" I asked with a teasing grin on my face.

"N-No! That's not it at all!" Kanade exclaimed. I could tell through the faint light which was present that Kanade was blushing slightly. "And besides, I already know about you and Shizuku."

"Now that I think about it, didn't I something similar happen back in the good old days?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think it was sometime after we first met." Kanade replied.

"I'll never forget that time. You really helped me to become a powerful Kampfer." I said. "It was almost like it was yesterday."…..

_**…**_

_** (Flashback)**_

_**(Four years ago….)**_

_I was walking through Shibuya on a few errands as I usually did when Mom was off on business. I was making sure to conceal my bracelet as best as possible so that it wouldn't draw attention, so far though, it boiled down to me having to wear a pair of fingerless gloves all the time. And even then, a small portion of the top part of the bracelet would show. Keep in mind that this was back when I was still starting out as a Kampfer, so I was intent on avoiding fights when I could._

_While I was heading home from Shibuya, I rounded a corner and accidentally bumped into a girl and we both fell to the ground. I rubbed my head as I looked up and saw the girl across from me; she was around my age, had medium-length silvery white hair that was put into somewhat messy-looking pigtails, golden brown eyes, and she wore a light blue sundress coupled with a pair of black boots. I noticed one other thing about her that instantly caught my attention; she had a light blue metallic bracelet on her right arm, which immediately told me she was a Kampfer._

"_Ow….That hurt…." The girl said as she rubbed the back of her head. I quickly got up and helped her stand as well._

"_Um….sorry about that, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." I said politely._

"_No, that's okay; I wasn't paying much attention either." The girl replied with a warm and apologetic smile._

"_Well, that set aside, are you alright?" I asked. "I did run into you pretty hard just now."_

"_I'm fine, what about you?" the girl answered._

"_Yeah, I'm okay too." I replied. "By the way, that's a nice bracelet you have there."_

"_This old thing…it's not that special, just something that's been in my family for generations." The girl said. "I know that this is sort of random and we just met and all, but how come you wear those gloves? Especially since it's the middle of summer."_

"_You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I replied._

"_I could probably think of something crazier." she said with a chuckle._

"_What if I told you….that there were supernatural warriors always fighting one another?" I asked challengingly._

"_I'd say that I believe you. After all….I am one of those warriors." The girl replied. Suddenly, her right arm gave off a pale blue light that enveloped her whole body for a few seconds. When the light vanished, her appearance had changed significantly. Her hair had shortened slightly and changed to a dark blue color save for her bangs which remained their normal silvery white. Her eyes had also changed to a bright purple._

"_Well….this makes things interesting…." I replied cockily as I transformed as well. I took off the glove on my right arm to reveal the green bracelet that encircled my wrist. "It's a small world I guess, since I'm a Kampfer too."_

"_So, what's the deal with the green bracelet?" the girl asked as she tilted of her head._

"_How the hell should I know? I haven't been doing this for very long and there's still questions that I need answered." I answered._

"_I guess in the meantime, we should start fighting." the girl said as she charged forward. I immediately readied myself and let some electrical energy build up in my hands. But before I could think up a strategy, I felt a massive pain in my ears. I fell to the ground and clasped my hands over my ears as the pain continued. Even though I covered my ears, I kept hearing the same horrible scratchy sound endlessly._

_I looked up to see that the girl was standing a few feet away from me with her mouth open as if she were screaming, and what's more was the fact that she wasn't being affected by the sound like I was. And by that I mean that it wasn't affecting her at all. As the sound continued to furiously bombard my eardrums, I could feel my concentration starting to diminish bit by bit. Suddenly, the sound ceased and I could feel the continuous pain fading. I uncovered my ears and looked up to see the girl was still standing in the same place and her mouth was closed now, still unaffected by what had just happened._

"_What….the hell….was that?" I asked as I stood up and rubbed my head due to the headache I now had._

"_That was my Kampfer power; Sonic Zauber." The girl replied. "I can basically release a sonic wave from my mouth and use it to stun or down an enemy quickly."_

"_I…..that's actually pretty incredible, I have to admit." I replied. "You certainly caught me off guard with that. But I guess it doesn't help that I'm sort of a rookie when it comes to being a Kampfer." I transformed back into my normal form and walked over to the girl._

"_Well….you did fall kind of easily." The girl said with a smirk. She saw the irritated look on my face and giggled. "Relax, I'm just teasing. But I can offer to train you a little if you want. I could get you going with fighting and see what happens. Who knows, maybe you'll even be able to beat me one day." She transformed back into her normal state as well and I collected the things from my errands from the ground before turning back around to face her._

"_Well, I'm off." I said. "We should get together some time to start that training."_

"_Y-Yeah….how about this Sunday?" the girl asked with a slight stutter._

"_Sound good to me." I replied. "Like I said, I'm off. I've got a few more trips to make by this afternoon. I'll see you on Sunday in the park, I guess." And with that, I walked off and finished my errands before heading home._

_**(Two days later….)**_

_It was the following Sunday, two days after I had met that girl. I was going through my morning routine of getting ready and whatnot when I heard a familiar and possibly too energetic voice out in the hall._

"_Hey, little bro, you ready yet?" Hikari asked as she knocked on my bedroom door. I walked over to the door and opened it to find that Hikari was smiling brightly as usual and had her bags all packed and ready. You see, Hikari was going on a two year trip to America to study overseas, and I was going to see her off at the airport this morning._

"_Yeah, you caught me just as I finished getting ready." I replied as I walked out of my room and helped Hikari get everything gathered. After a half hour we arrived at the airport and made our way through the terminal until we were standing in front of the hall that led to Hikari's flight._

"_Well, I guess this is it for now." I said as Hikari's flight was announced to be departing soon._

"_Yeah….It's a shame Mom couldn't be here today, but I understand since she had to leave town on business like she usually does." Hikari replied with a half smile._

"_Don't worry, I'll tell her goodbye for you when she gets back into Tokyo." I said, trying to cheer her up._

"_Haha…thanks little bro." Hikari said, her smile already brightening. "I should probably get going now or else they'll leave without me."_

"_Yeah, I need to go now too, I've got plans with a friend this afternoon." I replied. I gave Hikari a quick hug before she walked down the hall and onto the plane itself. I made my way over to the window that overlooked the runway and saw Hikari's plane take off after a few minutes of waiting._

_Afte5rwards, I left the airport behind and started my trek to the park, which was a ways away from the airport might I add. After maybe thirty five minutes, I arrived at the park and walked around for a bit before seeing the girl from the other day sitting on a nearby bench. I walked over to where she was sitting and she noticed me as I got closer._

"_Hi, did I keep you waiting long?" I asked._

"_No, only five minutes almost….I just got here myself." The girl replied with a warm smile._

"_Oh, that's good. Are you ready to start the training?" I asked._

"_Yeah, I know where we can go too. It's a small clearing where no one will bother us." The girl said._

"_Cool, let's get going." I replied as she stood up and led me through the park until we came to a small field-like area that would be suitable for our intentions. We started our training and had a few sparring sessions. After about an hour, we decided to take a break and sat down under a nearby tree that provided excellent shade from the summer sun._

"_You know, in all the training we've been doing, IO forgot to ask you your name." I remarked as I looked out across the green field._

"_My name….?" the girl asked._

"_Is something wrong?" I asked._

"_No….it's nothing." The girl replied. "My name….my name's Kanade Satonaka. But to be honest….that's all I remember."_

"_What do you mean?" I inquired. "You mean to say that you don't remember anything?"_

"_Yeah….I have amnesia I think. It happened a year ago, I woke up and found that I had changed in appearance. Then an Entrails Animal I owned came to life and told me I was a Kampfer." Kanade explained. "And what's more is that I didn't remember a thing about who I was, the only thing I knew was my name, but otherwise, I had lost all of my memories on that day. So really, all I truly know about is being a Kampfer, that is, that's all that my memories consist of."_

"_So you really don't remember anything about your past?" I asked in shock._

"_No….and I just wish I could remember something, anything at all. I want to remember my past; I don't want to lose it." Kanade said with a saddened expression._

"_Well if it means that much to you to recover your memories….then I'll help you do it." I replied._

"_I-I couldn't ask you to do that, I don't see whether or not it will help. If I've had this problem for over a year, then I doubt that my memories can be regained." Kanade said._

"_That's why we have to at least try." I replied. "And besides, we're going to be hanging out a lot because of training; so why not try and get your memories back."_

"_That's true…." Kanade said. "Well….alright. Let's recover my memories." I smiled at her enthusiasm and noticed that it was starting to get dark out._

"_Aw man, I should get going. School starts tomorrow." I said as I stood up._

"_Oh, what school do you go to?" Kanade asked._

"_Seitetsu Gakuin High." I replied. Kanade's face suddenly lit up at the mention of my school._

"_Seitetsu Gakuin?" Kanade said. "I go there too. What was your name, by the way?"_

"_Oh, that's right. I forgot about that….haha. My name's Mamoru Tsuyoshi." I added._

"_Mamoru Tsuyoshi….Yeah, now I remember that name. You're the student who transferred here a few months ago right?" Kanade asked._

"_That's right. I'll be a sophomore starting tomorrow." I replied with a chuckle._

"_I guess we'll be classmates then. Well, classmates to an extent that is." Kanade remarked. "I'll see you tomorrow in that case."_

"_Yeah, see you tomorrow." I said before I walked off and headed home._

_The next day, I went through my usual morning routine to get ready for school. I left the apartment about twenty minutes later and made my way to the familiar sight of the school. I also saw Kanade standing by the entrance to the school waiting for me._

"_Morning." I said as she noticed me walking towards her._

"_Morning." Kanade replied._

"_Another day, a new semester." I said._

"_Yeah. Hey, you want to go train after school?" Kanade asked._

"_Sure, I'll meet you here after school and we can go together." I replied. "I guess for now I'll head to homeroom."_

"_Same here. I'll see you later." Kanade said before she walked over to the girls' side and I made my way over to the boys' side. The day was pretty normal up until lunchtime when a message was delivered to me that the Student Council President wanted to talk to me. I was given permission to go over to the girls' section of the school to do so and made my way over there._

_I managed to find out where my destination was and found the elevator to take me to the Student Council Presidents' office. Once I stepped out of the elevator, I was amazed at the size of the room. On the other side of it there was a large desk with a few chairs opposite of it. But what amazed me the most was the one who was sitting at the large desk and looking straight at me._

"_Welcome, I've been expecting you." The girl said. She was my age like Kanade was, had long raven colored hair and purplish-blue eyes. And of course, she wore the girls' school uniform to top it all off. I couldn't believe my eyes, this was the first Kampfer I had ever faced; Shizuku Sango._

"_Wait a minute, y-you're….." I began._

"_That's right….it's been a long time hasn't it?" Shizuku remarked._

"_But, how did you know who I really was?" I asked._

"_As Student Council President, I have access to a lot of things, including listings for all of the students here at this school. I saw your name on one of those listings and remembered the Kampfer I fought a few months back. And that's how I knew your true identity." Shizuku explained._

"_Is that why you delivered a message asking me to come here?" I asked._

"_Well that…and I wanted to see how you were adapting to this school. I tend to do this with new students after they've been here for at least two months. And I didn't get a chance to do so last semester when you were here." Shizuku continued._

"_Oh, is that so….?" I said._

"_Yes, I would also like to give you this." Shizuku said as she stood up from the desk and walked over to me. She handed me what appeared to a pass of sorts._

"_What's this….?" I asked._

"_This pass will allow you to go throughout the school as you wish. You can even go between the boys' and girls' sides if you want. This is mainly for if you need to speak with me about anything concerning the Kampfer. If you encounter any new Kampfer, then let me know." Shizuku replied._

"_Why is that?" I asked._

"_That will have to remain a secret for now." Shizuku answered slyly._

"_Well, I'll be on my way then." I said as I turned around and walked off. After that, the rest of the day went by normally as well. After school, I went and waited by the school gates for Kanade to arrive._

_**(A/N: This small section was made to serve as an epilogue for the events of Chapter 3 of Book One, BTW.)**_

"_Hey!" I turned around as Kanade called out to me and ran over to the gates. "Are you ready to go?"_

"_Yeah, let's go." I replied as we walked tow_ard the park.

"_So, I heard that you were asked to go talk to Shizuku Sango." Kanade remarked._

"_Yep, Ms. Student Council President herself. Did you know that she's also a Kampfer like us?" I replied._

"_Oh, really….?" Kanade asked._

"_Yeah, she was the first opponent I had ever faced as a Kampfer." I said._

"_Oh? So I wasn't your first?" Kanade asked with a giggle. For a second, I thought that I saw her cheeks turn a little pink as well._

"_H-Hey now, don't play that card." I exclaimed teasingly. By now, we had arrived at the park and we were almost at the clearing that we used for training. Once we got to the clearing, we burned up a whole hour with a few sparring matches. Afterward, we sat down under the same tree we were under yesterday and relaxed for a bit._

"_You're already starting to improve and this is only day two. I'm impressed." Kanade said._

"_Yeah, and it's all thanks to you, Sempai." I replied._

"_Sempai?" Kanade asked in confusion. "But we're in the same grade."_

"_Well, you have more experience than me at being a Kampfer, and it's almost like a business if you think about it, so why not call you Sempai given those circumstances." I explained._

"_Well, that actually sort of makes sense, and plus; I like the sound of that, Kanade-Sempai." Kanade said with a giggle._

"_I wonder about you sometimes, you know that?" I said teasingly. After a while, we decided to head home for the day and agreed to meet up after school tomorrow for more training._

_**(Two months later….)**_

_The next month or two passed pretty quickly. This time period was composed of training after school a few times a week. It was bitter work, but the results were worth it. It actually helped not only my skills increase, but it also made Kanade a better fighter as well_

_Unfortunately, we weren't having such good luck in regaining Kanade's memories. We had tried numerous times asking around town about her, but all we had gotten was a very brief mention of a few minor things about her family here and there, but even then we hadn't gotten enough information to help us._

_Today we were training again, this time however, we were spending more time with our training as opposed to the hour-long sessions we usually had. We spent maybe two hours with our training, and then we decided to try going around town for a bit and see if we could gather any information on Kanade's family. But as usual, we ran out of luck with that._

_We went back to the park and just hung out for a while. I looked over at Kanade and saw that her cheeks were a bit wet._

"_H-hey, are you crying?" I asked._

"_Yeah…." Kanade replied sadly._

"_Why is that?" I asked._

"_Because….well…..It's been two months already, and we still haven't managed to find out anything useful that might help me remember. And on top of the year that I've spent without my memories before I met you, it makes me wonder if I'll ever get my past back." Kanade replied with a small sob._

"_Sempai….I said that I would help you get your memories back, and that's what I'm going to do." I said as I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Just trust me; we'll get them back somehow."_

"_Y-you really think so?" Kanade asked through another small sob._

"_Yeah…." I replied._

"_You know…there's always been something that was unique about you, something that I've never been able to figure out. And honestly, I'm still not sure what that is exactly." Kanade said as she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes to dry them._

"_Falling for me, huh?" I asked teasingly._

"_N-No! That's not it at all!" Kanade exclaimed as her cheeks reddened slightly. Nonetheless, I could see that a smile was already forming on her face_

"_Haha, don't worry, I'm just teasing." I replied with a chuckle. Suddenly, I heard a slow series of claps coming from behind us. We turned around to see that a girl roughly a year older than me was walking toward us and slowly clapping all the while. She had long purplish-magenta hair that stopped just above her rear, brown eyes, and she wore a Seitetsu Gakuin school uniform like us._

"_What a nice and touching moment….really, I'm moved. But now onto the reason I'm here….to defeat you!" the girl said, pointing to Kanade. "You owe me a rematch for what you did to me half a year ago."_

"_Who the hell are you exactly?" I asked as I stepped forward a few steps._

"_Me? I'm Yuko Nakamura. I have a score to settle with your little friend here, so get out of my way." Yuko said as she stepped forward. I was about to step in front of Kanade when I felt her place a hand on my shoulder._

"_Mamoru, it's okay. I can do this." Kanade said as she transformed into her Kampfer form and stepped forward to face Yuko. "You want a rematch, well you've got one."_

"_At least you're not hesitant to meet your end. You see, I've grown stronger since last time, and this time, I'm going to settle the score." Yuko replied as she became bathed in a pale red light. After a few seconds, the light faded and I noticed her hair had not only become more messy-looking, but had also changed to a bright shade of pink., her eyes had turned golden yellow, and the sleeves on the outer shirt of her uniform shortened significantly to reveal the sleeves of her black inner shirt._

_Kanade prepared to attack, but before she could do so, Yuko broke into an immediate sprint and with impossible speed, landed a punch in Kanade's stomach which sent her stumbling backwards from the power._

"_I told you I'd gotten stronger. I learned hand to hand combat to go with me ability to use a sword. So now, I can attack quickly and efficiently if I so wish." Yuko said confidently. Yuko then rushed forward and leaped behind Kanade, striking her in the back in such a way that she was sent flying onto the ground with a very hard landing by the looks of it._

"_Kanade!" I exclaimed as I hurried over to where Kanade's body lay motionless. From the looks of it, she was just unconscious, so she was in no condition to fight._

"_Well, well, well….That was easier than I thought. I guess I don't know my own strength." Yuko said with a chuckle._

"_Hey! What's your problem!" I asked._

"_It's what I have to do, that's why I have this." Yuko said as she lifted the sleeve of her inner shirt to reveal the metallic red bracelet on her right arm._

"_You treat this as if it's a game or something! There's more to being a Kampfer than that!" I replied._

"_How do you know about the Kampfer?" Yuko asked._

"_You know what they say, 'it takes one to know one'." I replied as I transformed into my Kampfer form, noticing that I now wore a girls' school uniform instead of a boys' uniform._

"_Y-You're a Kampfer? B-But…you're a boy!" Yuko exclaimed in shock._

"_I'm the exception, it seems." I said as I let electrical energy build up in my hands. "you're fighting me now." Suddenly, the energy that was built up in my hands started to form something, the energy came together and shaped itself into a pair of broadswords, the blades of which gleamed a silvery color as if the weapons were brand new._

"_What the…." I mumbled as I beheld the weapons in my hands._

"_Hold on, just a second ago, your hands were packed with electricity, and now you have two broadswords?" Yuko asked in shock._

"_This must be the results of my training…." I said softly. I ran forward and prepared to attack. Yuko quickly summoned forth a Samurai sword and attempted to block my attack. However, I managed to knock the sword out of her hands and it went flying through the air and landed a few feet away from her. Y^u8ko stepped back in alarm as I walked slowly forward._

"_Who….or what the hell are you?" Yuko asked in alarm._

"_I'm Mamoru Tsuyoshi, a Green Kampfer, and this is my power." I replied. Suddenly, the broadswords in my hands began to glow brightly as electricity started surrounding the blades and lacing through it. An idea forming in my head; I repeatedly swung the blades, and my suspicions were confirmed as waves of energy were projected from the swords as I swung them through the air. Each of these waves struck Yuko over and over until finally, she was sent falling backwards onto the ground by an extra strong wave of energy._

_I walked over to where Yuko was lying on the ground and saw that she was also unconscious. I then decided to pick Yuko up and lay her against a nearby tree. Then I picked up Kanade's unconscious form and carried her over to the hospital. After a while of waiting, a doctor came by and motioned me over to him._

"_How's she doing?" I asked._

"_She'll be perfectly fine. The worst thing that happened was that she has an above-average bruise on her head. But otherwise, she can go home after we perform a few more tests to be safe." The doctor replied._

"_That's good." I said._

"_She's awake now, so if you want to see her, you're welcome to do so." The doctor added before leading me to the room that Kanade was in. I walked in and closed the door behind me. Kanade was sitting on the edge of the bed in the center of the room and still wearing her uniform._

"_Hey." I said as I walked over to her._

"_Hey." Kanade replied._

"_How are you feeling?" I asked._

"_My head still hurts a little, but the doctor said I should be fine." Kanade answered. "Guess what?"_

"_What?" I replied._

"_I'm not sure how, but I remember everything…..My memories came back." Kanade answered with a warm smile on her face._

"_Are you serious?" I asked, still a bit shocked._

"_Yeah, I have my memories again. After all this time….I remember my past." Kanade said. "My family is among one of the richest in Tokyo. My dad owns the Satonaka Record Company, which is a sort of international record company. And my mom….My mom died in a fire when I was very young." Her face became more solemn._

"_I know how it feels to lose a parent, Kanade." I replied as I sat down on the bed next to her. "My dad was killed before my very eyes when I was a kid, so I k now how that pain feels."_

"_That's not all….Mamoru….I ran away from home." Kanade said. "It happened when I first became a Kampfer, I was frustrated at first because I couldn't remember anything, so I thought 'why bother staying here with people that I can't even remember' and I just left in the middle of the night. A friend of mine helped me out by letting me stay with her, so I wasn't homeless or anything like that._

"_Kanade…." I said softly._

"_But now that I remember it all….I realize that I must have really hurt my dad and made him worry when I did that." Kanade continued. "So tonight, I want to go back and apologize for that. And Mamoru….I was wondering if you would come with me when I do."_

"_Of course I'll go. Consider it my way of saying thanks for making me into a better Kampfer." I replied with a smile._

"_Thanks, Mamoru. I appreciate it." Kanade said. After a while longer, the doctor said that it would be fine for Kanade to go home. We walked through Tokyo until we came to a stop in front of a massive four story house surrounded by a stone wall that was a bit taller than me._

"_T-This is your house!" I asked in disbelief._

"_Yep, this is where I grew up." Kanade replied. We walked up to the front door and Kanade knocked. After a few seconds a girl that was probably around the age of nineteen answered the door. The girl had medium-length raven colored hair, dark green eyes, and she wore a typical maids' outfit. She gasped when she saw Kanade._

"_M-Ms. Satonaka….?" The girl asked in disbelief._

"_Yeah, it's me, Aika." Kanade replied. The girl whose name was Aika led us inside and closed the door behind her._

"_I can't believe that you've finally come back after all this time, Ms. Satonaka." Aika said as we went into the sitting room and sat down._

"_Is my father home?" Kanade asked._

"_Yes, I believe so. He's-" Aika began but was interrupted by a rather masculine voice calling down from upstairs and getting closer as well._

"_Aika, who's at the door…?" the voice asked. Suddenly, a man who was in his mid-thirties came into the room. He wore an average business suit and had short black hair that was parted down the middle. The man looked over at Kanade and his eyes widened slightly. "K-Kanade….?" The man asked._

"_Hi….dad." Kanade said as she stood up and walked over to her father and hugged him. Kanade's father hugged her back with equal warmth and I noticed that tears were starting to stream down his face._

"_Kanade….I've missed you so much. Please don't worry me like that ever again." Kanade's father said as he let go of his daughter._

"_I'm sorry, dad….I really am. I was just frustrated because I couldn't remember anything due to the amnesia. I didn't think about what I might have done by running away, and I promise I won't do that ever again…..I'm really sorry, dad." Kanade said as she wiped the tears from her own face._

"_I know that you're sorry, Kanade, but please, don't do that again. You had me worried absolutely sick about you." Kanade's father replied calmly._

"_Okay, dad." Kanade said with a warm smile on her face. Kanade's father looked up and noticed me in the room as well._

"_Are you the one who found her?" He asked._

"_I'm just a friend of hers. I was the one who sort of helped her regain her memories." I replied_

"_Well, thank you for all you've done. I'm very grateful for the things you did to in order to help my daughter." Kanade's father said. "If there's anything we could do for you in return, then just name it."_

"_I'm just happy I was able to help her regain her memories." I said._

"_Well, at least stay with us for dinner, it's the least we could do." Kanade's father replied._

"_I guess there's no harm in that." I said._

"_Well, I suppose that's my cue to go and get things ready then." Aika said cheerfully before leaving the room. After we all ate, we sat around and talked for a while. When it started getting late, I decided to head home. I said my goodbyes to Kanade and her father before leaving._

_As I walked along through the city, I looked up at the sky; the full moon giving off a small white glow. Once I got to my apartment, I made my way to the top floor and walked down the familiar corridor until I reached my apartment. I opened the door and walked inside, wearing a satisfied smile on my face…._

_**(Flashback ends)**_

"I'll never forget that time either, Mamoru. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have regained my memories at all." Kanade said.

"A lot has changed since then." I replied. "You've definitely grown up from the girl I met four years ago."

"I think that you've grown too. We've both changed for the better since those days." Kanade said with a smile.

"Yeah, we sure have…." I replied with a smile of my own.

"Well, I'm going to try and get some sleep, good night Mamoru." Kanade said before walking off and leaving me alone on the top deck. I looked out at the vast ocean below me and felt an eerie calmness despite the things that have transpired in the last week. And just like the night when Kanade remembered her past, I wore a warm and satisfied smile on my face.

_**Aaaaaannnnddddddd…..DONE! Chapter 5 is now complete and ready for your enjoyment. So, now we know m ore about Kanade and her connection to Mamoru. And plus, we have a small epilogue-type thing for the events of Chapter 3 of Book One, so that's a freebie.**_

_**There will be a small one week time skip between this chapter and the next in terms of the events, since they just set sail and whatnot. Speaking of next chapter; we will see our heroes arriving in America and meeting up with Mikoto.**_

_**Not only that, but there will also be a special appearance of a character from another fanfic made by another author entirely. I have asked the author for permission to use said character and they approved. If you are familiar with Awinnerwasyou, then you may know which character I am referring to. (devious giggle)**_

_**Not only that, but Chapter 6 will have a section that I am looking forward to writing very much, as it will be INSANELY FUNNY!**_

_**Anyways, that's it for this chapter. See ya later!**_

**:D**


	6. Chapter 6: World Tour, Episode 1

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 6: World Tour; A Fresh Start

_**I'm baaaaaacckk!**_

_**This chapter is my most anticipated yet as it will be very funny at one part in my opinion, just sayin'. Also, there will be a special appearance of a character I am borrowing from another author. The author is also writing a trilogy of Kampfer stories, but they are one story behind me, the authors' name is Awinnerwasyou. I'm sure some of you are familiar with their work if you have read Battle Against Fate, and its sequel-in-progress, Rebellion Against Fate. These are both stories that I do recommend.**_

_**But enough with the ads, let's get on with the story. Oh, and one more thing; I do not own Kampfer, nor do I own the OC that appears in this chapter. Tara Goodman belongs to Awinnerwasyou. I only own Mamoru Tsuyoshi, Kanade Satonaka, the Schatten, and the Green Kampfer.**_

_**Okay, ONE MORE THING; I apologize for the strange "text hiccups" that appear in the story sometimes, I have no idea why that happens, but it seems to happen after I upload the chapters.**_

_**Have fun….**_

_**:D**_

It had been at least a week since we had set off on the biggest adventure we had been on so far, just a week of straight sailing, save for maybe one or two stops here and there to restock on something. But otherwise, we had been informed by "Captain Akihiko" (as I liked to jokingly call him) that we were an hour away from the east coast of America and we would be stopping in a city called New York in order to restock on a few more things.

"So, where in America do you think Mikoto would be?" I asked the others as we were relaxing on the main deck of the ship, watching the distant landmass inch closer as time passed.

"I don't know, but I brought along a few books that have information on all the countries around the world, and one of them said that America is made up of fifty separate states." Akane replied, pushing her glasses up onto her nose. "She could be in any of them, and it would take us too long to find her if we went all across America."

"Well, we're stopping in a city called New York, so maybe we can find Mikoto there by chance." Shizuku added. "But there is another problem; we aren't native to America, so we may have a hard time communicating with people while we're here. We are Japanese, after all."

"You're right, Shizuku. Mikoto has been here longer than we have, so maybe she could help us once we find her." I remarked. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice echo in my head.

I think I can help you guys with that" Midori chimed in, even though I'm literally the only one who can hear her right now.

"You know that the others can't hear you, right?" I asked out loud.

"Am I missing something here?" Kanade asked me.

"It's a long story, but basically, I can talk to my Kampfer self in my head." I answered. "Hang on a sec." I stood up and performed the Fission Dance, splitting myself from Midori.

"Okay, now I'm really confused." Kanade said as she looked from me to Midori and back again.

"It's just a little trick I've been able to do for a while." I replied. "Anyways, Midori; tell the others what you told me."

"Right, I was telling Mamoru that I can help you with your problem of language." Midori explained. "Kampfer have more capabilities than you think. Kampfer are not only able to sense other nearby Kampfer, but they can also understand almost any language, that's just sort of a freebie I guess."

"How do we use that sort of ability?" Kaede asked.

"It'll happen on its own." Midori replied. "Now, I'll just be on my way." And with that, Midori and I performed the Fission Dance once more and re-fused.

"Well, I guess that settles that problem, but we still need to find Mikoto." I said as I sat back down.

"_Attention passengers, we will be arriving in New York within the next forty five minutes. So be prepared." _Akihiko's voice announced through a set of speakers spread out on the deck.

"I guess that's our cue to get ready then." Kanade said. After we all left the deck, we waited until the mentioned forty five minutes had passed and we found ourselves slowly approaching a large dock-like area. Once we got settled in a spot, we all walked off the boat and looked around at our surroundings.

"So this is America…." Akane said in awe. I looked ahead and saw a massive cluster of buildings in the distance, and I couldn't believe the sight.

"Something tells me that if Mikoto's here, it'll be a little hard to find her." I said as I gestured towards the city with my thumb.

"Well, we should start by finding somewhere to exchange our Yen for American Dollars, that way we can have some money we can use." Shizuku suggested. We all nodded and managed to eventually find such a place. I _greatly_ emphasize eventually, since it took us a while. After we fixed our money problem, we started walking around the city and once again I _greatly _emphasize this, eventually we came across the object of our mission. Standing not too far away from us was Mikoto herself; dressed in a pink tan k top and a black skirt.

"Hey, Mikoto!" Shizuku called out. Mikoto looked over in our direction and upon seeing us, ran over and smiled brightly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mikoto asked. "It's been such a long time." Mikoto was definitely different; her hair had grown out maybe an inch or so. But the most shocking part was her height. She was actually as tall as me now. Think of it this way; I'm rather tall for a guy my age, so the fact that Mikoto is as tall as me now is a real shock.

"We came here to find you." Kaede replied. "We need your help with the new problem we seem to have." Kaede gestured towards the sky for emphasis.

"Oh, that? Well, it's actually a funny thing you mentioned that, because I was planning on going back to Japan tomorrow for the exact same reason." Mikoto said. "So I guess you guys just helped me out a bit….haha"

"Well, nonetheless, it's great to see you again, Mikoto." I added as I looked at Mikoto's face, still not quite used to her height yet.

"Mikoto….Do you know these guys?" a voice asked from behind Mikoto. Behind her was a girl that was at least a year older than me, had blond hair that went down to her hips, and green eyes.

The girl in general wasn't what immediately got my attention, but rather the fact that I understood what she said. She looked like she was from here, yet I could understand her perfectly as if she were speaking Japanese. I could tell the others also picked up on this as I could tell they were hiding surprised expressions.

"Oh, there you are, Tara. Yeah, these are my friends from Japan I told you about the other day." Mikoto replied.

"My name's Shizuku Sango, nice to meet you." Shizuku said as she introduced herself. I noticed that this new girl actually responded with a nod. It's almost like she understood Shizuku.

"I'm Akane Mishima; it's nice to meet a friend of Mikoto's." Akane said as she followed suit.

"Kaede Sakura would be my name." Kaede chimed in.

"I'm Kanade Satonaka." Kanade was the next to speak.

"And I'm Mamoru Tsuyoshi; unfortunately I'm the only guy in this group right now. But it tends to reap rewards now and then…." I said as I winked at Shizuku who giggled in response.

"And I'm Tara Goodman; I'm a friend of Mikoto's. I actually live in Japan right now, but I grew up here in New York, and I'm here on a vacation of sorts." Tara replied. Okay, now I figured it out; Tara said she lives in Japan, and now that I've heard her talk a bit more, I realized that she's actually speaking Japanese at the moment. Wow….talk about convenient.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Tara. And it's good to see that Mikoto managed to make a friend here." I replied. Suddenly, my watch started to give off a pale green light that grew slightly brighter as the seconds passed.

Once the light hit a bracelet on Tara's arm, it revealed that the bracelet was actually a purple gauntlet like we all wore. The same happened with Mikoto, revealing that she also had a gauntlet in place of a charm bracelet.

"Well, that certainly revealed a lot." I said as the gauntlets that Mikoto and Tara wore changed back into their hidden forms.

"I guess we're all Kampfer then." Tara said as everyone else nodded.

"So, will you help us out, Mikoto?" Shizuku asked.

"Sure, it'll be just like old times." Mikoto replied with a burst of energy. Glad to see that didn't change.

"I'd like to help too." Tara chimed in. "As long as you guys are here, I'd like to help you with trying to stop whatever the cause of this black sky is."

"Sure thing, but this is some pretty dangerous stuff we're dealing with here." Kaede replied. "Mamoru and I have seen that firsthand. The thing that we're fighting now actually captured one of our friends and they're on its side now."

"I'm still going to fight though." Tara insisted.

"Alright, let's meet up somewhere tonight and discuss this some more." I suggested. The others nodded and Mikoto went with us back to the ship while Tara went in a separate direction. Later that night, we were all on the ships' top deck when Mikoto suddenly pulled out her phone.

"I just got a text from Tara; she says she's taking us to a club." Mikoto said.

"A club, huh?" I replied. "This should be interesting."

"Yeah, I'm curious too." Shizuku added.

"Did she say where it is?" Kaede inquired.

"Yeah, she mentioned how to get there and that she'll be waiting for us when we arrive." Mikoto replied. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Kanade said. And with that, we all left the ship and made our way through New York until we came to the destination mentioned in the text message Mikoto received. A large neon sign above the building read _Club Journey_.

_**(A/N: I don't know that much about New York, so I just made this club name up on the spot, BTW.)**_

"This is the place." Mikoto said. Mikoto looked over and saw Tara by the door. We walked over to her and greeted her.

"So, you guys ready?" Tara asked. We all nodded and Tara led us inside. Almost instantly we were hit with the bright and colorful lights and booming music that normally comes from clubs like this.

"S-So….T-This is a club?" Akane asked.

"Yep, good ol' Club Journey." Tara replied before she started to walk off. "I'll be right back; I'm going to go get us a VIP room."

"Whoa, a VIP room!" Kanade asked in shock.

"Yeah, the guy who owns this club is an old friend of my dad, so I could probably pull a few strings." Tara explained. After a few minutes, we were all sitting in a VIP room with a table set in the center and covered with a massive amount of various foods and drinks. We were just sitting arou8nd and talking while we enjoyed the refreshments set out for us when I decided to speak up.

"Alright, I think that we should fill in our three newest members on the story so far." I said. "The Schatten have done precisely what they said they would; they've harnessed their power and shrouded the entire planet in an unnatural darkness. This darkness has also started to transform people into mindless Dark Puppets that are swayed only by the will of the Schatten."

"Right." Kaede chimed in.

"And what's more is the Schatten themselves are our own dark counterparts, born quite literally from our inner darkness. Kaede has already faced her other self back in Japan before we found the others and left." I continued. "So now there are only six Schatten left, if you count Natsuru that is. We need to find the other six and defeat them."

"I think that sums it up." Shizuku said before she downed an entire glass of liquid in a small series of swallows.

"How many of those have you had?" Akane asked.

"I don't know….I haven't counted." Shizuku replied as she repeated the previous action.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Kaede asked. "It's not expensive or anything?"

"Nope, the owner said that because it's the daughter of his old friend, he'd let us have this all on the house." Tara replied.

"That's actually sort of incredible." Kaede said. "But it was nice of him to do that."

"Yeah, so everybody just have fun and have as much as you like." Tara said extra cheerfully.

"Well….I guess…." Kanade said hesitantly.

"C'mon, Kanade, don't be such a party pooper." Tara said with even more energy. "Huh? Kanade….? Kanade….? Kanade….? I Kanad-even believe think of a way that there could be something wrong."

"Kanad-even…." Shizuku said with a strange look in her eyes. "….Kanad-even! I get it!" Shizuku suddenly burst out in laughter.

"Well, they seem to be pretty loose tonight." Kanade remarked.

"W-Wait….could these be….?" Mikoto asked as she looked down at the glass in her hand.

"I told 'em to give us regular sodas….they're not alcoholic in the least…. Tara said in a semi-whiny tone.

"That might explain why I feel so hot all of the sudden." Akane said.

"….I seriously told 'em, guys….I swear I did!" Tara said in the same tone as before.

"A-Are these seriously alcoholic….d-drinks….?" Kanade asked in shock. Suddenly, I started to feel strange. My body felt a little numb, and everything seemed to be fuzzy. Not only that, but I felt like I had less control over my body and whatnot. I then heard myself chuckling.

"I'm sure that they're perfectly fine…." I heard myself say veryslyly. I suddenly found myself slipping off my jean vest and unbuttoning half the buttons on my shirt and after that, I started to down the glass in my hand with only a few simple gulps.

"Hit me with another." I said as I showed the empty glass to Kanade who was sitting next to me. She hesitantly handed me a second glass that was full. This glass I also downed quickly.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" Came the barely muffled voices of Tara and Shizuku from my left….I think. What the hell is going on with me? I could sort of see Mikoto slam an empty glass onto the table and stand up in a triumphant fashion.

"It's time for…..the…. KING'S GAME!" Mikoto exclaimed energetically.

"W-Wait WHAT!" Kaede asked in shock.

"Alright, peasants, one of you prepare the sticks on the double." Mikoto said in the same 'kingly' manner.

"W-What's going on here?" Akane asked.

"Know you not the king's word is the ultimate word? Prepare the sticks now!" Mikoto replied. Suddenly, I found myself kneeling in front of Mikoto with a bundle of chopsticks in my hands which were raised in front of her. First off; when the hell did I get these chopsticks? And second; WHY the hell did I get these chopsticks?

"T-That was fast…." Kanade said.

"The king's word is the ultimate word." I said simply, and might I add, WITHOUT MY THOUGHTS WILLING IT.

"I-Is he drunk too?" Kaede asked in shock.

"Alright everyone, make your choice." Mikoto said as she held out the chopsticks to everyone.

"Um, h-how does this work?" Akane inquired nervously.

"Okay; all the sticks have a mark or a number on 'em and each person draws a stick. And if the stick ya' get has the mark, then that person's the king. And what's more is that the king chooses who does what, and ya' can't say no to it." Shizuku explained very slyly. Each of us drew a stick from the bundle and the results were soon revealed.

"Long live the king….actually the queen…" Tara said as she showed her stick which had a red mark on it. Tara looked at each of us one by one then smirked. "I decree….that number four must kiss the queen at once." Suddenly, I heard Kanade gasp slightly. Guess that means that I know who number four is.

"M-Me…?" Kanade asked in surprise. "B-But, we're both girls."

"There comes a time in a girls' life when she must sacrifice something important; her chastity. For me, that time has passed. And for you; that time is now." Tara said in a strange poetic tone.

"Y-You mean…you're…." Akane said.

"Damn straight I am." Tara replied.

_**(A/N: Get it….straight? And she's…haha….yeah….)**_

"No way, not happening!" Kanade said in protest as she stood up and backed away. But Tara just kept approaching. Kanade simply ran out of the room from what I saw, and Tara didn't follow.

"She'll be back." Tara said. "One person down already; and it's only round one."

"I-It's that kind of game….?" Akane asked.

"Time for round two." Shizuku said with a giggle. We each drew from the newly shuffled up bundle of sticks. I took one good look at my chopstick and saw the red mark on it.

"So….Who's the king?" Mikoto asked. Without thinking, I stood up, undid the rest of the buttons on my shirt, tossed my chopstick into the air, and proceeded to perform the Fission Dance.

"Mamoru, what the hell?" Midori asked after we split.

"Step aside, Midori, and make way for the king." I said as I caught my chopstick on its' return trip to the ground and flashed a sly grin.

"Okay….Someone decent, just no crazy orders or anything." Akane said.

"I'm afraid that it doesn't work that way." Shizuku said with a giggle. "If the last king ordered a kiss, then the next order must be more extreme."

"Like they have to sit on his lap." Mikoto said.

"Or they have to rest on his lap." Shizuku added with yet another giggle.

"Nah….forget that, go right to the huggin'." Mikoto replied.

"So….what'll it be your highness?" Shizuku asked slyly. I looked from one person to the other in turn, and turned around to see a small dart board on the other side of the room. Without my thoughts consent, I let a small bit of electricity build up in my pointer finger and pointed at the dart board.

"I got….number one…." I said as I let the energy in my finger fly out and hit the center of the board. "Number one sits on my lap…." I went over and sat back down in my spot and waited for the results.

"t-That's m-me…." Akane said.

"The kings' word is the ultimate word." I replied cockily. Akane slowly edged over to me and hesitated a little bit before slowly sitting down on my lap.

"I-I-I did it." Akane said as she opened her eyes. Suddenly, Shizuku was standing in front of us.

"Excellent technique, Akane….but let me show you how it's really done." Shizuku said as Akane quickly got off of me and Shizuku sat on my lap sideways and wrapped her arms around my neck. And what's more is the fact that I was just sitting there with that same cocky grin on my face and I couldn't do anything about it.

"What….how else am I supposed to hug someone who's sitting down?" Shizuku asked innocently and slyly.

"Alright, peasants, time for you to make way for me." Mikoto said as she literally picked Shizuku up and placed her next to me before resting her head on my lap.

"What the…." Kaede said as she and Akane beheld the sight of Mikoto resting her head on my lap and Shizuku wrapping her arms around my neck once more.

"Hey! Don't hog 'em all…" Tara said in what I thought to be alarm.

"Why not? I am the king after all…." I said with a chuckle.

"What the hell…." Kanade said as she walked back into the room and saw the 'situation' I was in.

"There's always room for one more." I said with a smirk on my face.

_**…..**_

Okay, last night was, um….strange? Wild? Steamy? The answer to that is yes. I knew one thing; I had one hell of a migraine the next morning, but I quickly took care of that with some medicine. We had al gathered in the same place we always have our meals and were not really talking that much. That was when Shizuku spoke up.

"Um, does anyone remember what happened last night? My mind's a little fuzzy." Shizuku asked. I decided not to say anything on the account of the fact that things would get crazy, and fast.

"I think things were normal for a while, but then it got a bit wild. I don't even remember who started that up though." I lied.

"Neither do I, but at least it's behind us." Kanade said. I could tell she was also lying. We sort of fell into silence after that, and after some time passed, I could feel my appetite vanish just like that. Not only that, but I was starting to feel a bit dizzy and generally unwell.

"Is something wrong, Mamoru?" I heard Kanade ask from her spot next to me.

"Um….I'm not feeling too well right now. So I'll just go and rest a bit I think." I replied as I stood up and started to walk out of the room.

"Are you sure that you'll be alright for now?" Shizuku asked.

"Yeah, I think I just need some rest. I'll see you—ugh…." I couldn't get the whole sentence out before I suddenly fell to the ground and felt my entire body go totally numb.

What was going on? Was I becoming drunk again? Or was this some sort of side effect from last night? I could barely hear the others calling out to me as my hearing became muffled and everything went dark….

_**(To be continued….)**_

_**WHOA….crazy chapter, eh? Well, the ending was shocking, and the rest was pretty funny in my opinion. But that's just because I'm the writer.**_

_**Anyways, this chapter was mainly filler in the grand scheme of things. And next chapter, we'll see why Mamoru collapsed and then we'll also see an end to the trip in America….maybe….**_

_**See ya' later!**_

**:D**


	7. Chapter 7: I'm Sick Of It All!

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten.

Chapter Seven: I'm Sick of It All!

_**Let's get this stuff started!**_

_**I'm on a roll, so let's see how long I can stay like that. Anyways, last chapter, we saw some pretty funny stuff if I do say so myself. For example, the awakening of THE ULTIMATE EMBODIED ACCUMULATION OF ALL PIMPS; MAMORU TSUYOSHI!**_

_**What I'm doing is I'm trying to prevent this story from becoming too plot oriented by adding some extra filler here and there. Whether it be an entire chapters' worth, or just a small section of one. In this chapter, I hope to get the next big battle started if not finished, so…yeah, not much else to say.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**:D**

Okay, last night was, um….strange? Wild? Steamy? The answer to that is yes. I knew one thing; I had one hell of a migraine the next morning, but I quickly took care of that with some medicine. We had al gathered in the same place we always have our meals and were not really talking that much. That was when Shizuku spoke up.

"Um, does anyone remember what happened last night? My mind's a little fuzzy." Shizuku asked. I decided not to say anything on the account of the fact that things would get crazy, and fast.

"I think things were normal for a while, but then it got a bit wild. I don't even remember who started that up though." I lied.

"Neither do I, but at least it's behind us." Kanade said. I could tell she was also lying. We sort of fell into silence after that, and after some time passed, I could feel my appetite vanish just like that. Not only that, but I was starting to feel a bit dizzy and generally unwell.

"Is something wrong, Mamoru?" I heard Kanade ask from her spot next to me.

"Um….I'm not feeling too well right now. So I'll just go and rest a bit I think." I replied as I stood up and started to walk out of the room.

"Are you sure that you'll be alright for now?" Shizuku asked.

"Yeah, I think I just need some rest. I'll see you—ugh…." I couldn't get the whole sentence out before I suddenly fell to the ground and felt my entire body go totally numb.

What was going on? Was I becoming drunk again? Or was this some sort of side effect from last night? I could barely hear the others calling out to me as my hearing became muffled and everything went dark…..

_**…..**_

"_Huh….Where am I….?" I asked no one in particular. I looked around and saw that I was floating above the earth IN SPACE might I_ _add. I suddenly felt the same dizziness from before and then found myself no longer in space, but rather above an ocean. Below me were a vast number of small islands. I was drawn to one in particular as I got closer to it._

_I was suddenly hovering above a small area that had nothing really noticeable to it. Well….except for the lone man fighting a massive eight-headed and eight-tailed snake on the ground below me. The man had long black hair and wore what looked to be a robe decorated with multiple designs and pictures._

_He wielded a sword which he swung furiously at the gargantuan creature, slicing it apart bit by bit until finally, the creature was nothing more than a pile of sliced flesh. The man walked over to one of the creatures' severed tails and pulled a strange looking sword from it before walking off and deserting the now fallen beast._

"_What the hell did I just witness?" I asked myself. And at the same time, I felt as though I didn't need an answer, like the events that just transpired seemed familiar to me. I could feel something tugging at the back of my mind, a name or something like that._

"_Yamata….no….Orochi…." I could feel the words slip out from between my lips as the same numbness I had felt throughout my body before became more easily evident. Suddenly, I saw a sword in my right hand. But not any normal sword; this was the same sword that I saw the man pull from one of the serpents' tails._

_It had a grayish handle that was wrapped in white cloth, a golden hilt that formed what resembled a pair of wings, and a shining silver blade. In the center of the hilt was a single sky blue gem that had its' own glow to it._

"_W-What is this….A sword….?" I asked in shock. Suddenly, I could hear voices echoing throughout my head, they were the voices of my friends calling out my name. The voices grew louder and louder by the second as I could feel my body heating up now as opposed to the previous numbness. That was when everything went dark once more and I could hear only one voice that sounded like the mixing of multiple voices._

"_Soon….the fall of man….will be at hand…." The voice said._

That was when I woke up and bolted upright in my bed. I rubbed my eyes and discovered that my forehead was covered in sweat. I looked around and saw Aika sitting in a chair next to my bed.

"Mr. Tsuyoshi, you're awake. Oh thank goodness, the others were so worried." Aika said with a sigh.

"Aika….? What happened exactly?" I asked.

"You don't remember? You passed out on the floor during breakfast. You said you weren't feeling well and had decided to go back to your room, but you collapsed before you could leave." Aika explained.

"Oh, yeah now I remember…..Well, I'm alright now." I said. Which was true, I actually felt perfectly fine now as opposed to earlier. "Do you think you could tell the others that I'm fine as well?"

"Of course, Mr. Tsuyoshi." Aika said before bowing and leaving the room. I pulled the covers off of my body and got out of bed. I walked into the small bathroom and turned the sink on before splashing some warm water on my face. I dried my face off and looked at my reflection in the mirror in front of me.

"What could that dream have possibly meant?" I asked myself. "And that battle….the man….and the serpent….Could that have been….?" I shook my head to clear those thoughts away for now and decided to go and find the others. I exited the bathroom and immediately heard a knock on my door. I made m y way over to the door and opened it to find Kanade standing on the other side of the doorway.

"Hey, Mamoru. Aika told us you were feeling better." Kanade said.

"Yeah, I also think we should all meet up on the top deck. We need to figure out our plan of attack when it comes to the Schatten." I replied.

"Okay, I'll go tell the others." Kanade said.

"I'll meet you guys there in a bit." I replied. Kanade nodded before walking off. I closed the door and went into the sitting room. _"Hey, Midori…Did you have that same dream I did?"_ I could hear Midori respond almost immediately.

"_Yeah, I don't know why it happened though."_ Midori answered. _"But if I'm not mistaken, weren't those figures we saw in it…..who I think they were….?"_

"_I don't know, but that's what I'm afraid of."_ I replied mentally. I walked out of the room and into the hallway before making my way to the top deck and finding the others waiting for me. "Good to see you all here again." I sat down on the edge of a lounge chair placed across from the others as I greeted them.

"Kanade said that you wanted to go over our plan of attack for fighting the Schatten, is that right?" Shizuku asked.

"Yes, we need to figure out what we're going to do once we find them….." I trailed off as I suddenly noticed that there was one of us missing. "Hey….where's Mikoto?"

"She said that she was going for a walk around the city for a while this morning, but she's been gone for quite some time." Akane replied. S8uddenly, I saw someone walking up the walkway that led onto the ship. Well, more like limping, since it was Mikoto; covered in bruises and cuts.

"Mikoto!" All of us exclaimed as we rushed over to help our friend sit down in a nearby chair.

"Mikoto, what happened?" I asked.

"I…I was walking through the city like I said I would….and all of a sudden, I was pulled into an alleyway and attacked by someone. But that's not the worst part, the attacker….looked just like me." Mikoto replied weakly.

"The Schatten…." I said through gritted teeth. "What happened after that?"

"When I woke up, they were gone….but I felt really weak and sick...so I decided to head back here." Mikoto answered.

"Well the good thing is you're still alive." Kaede replied.

"Yeah…." Mikoto replied. Suddenly, Mikoto let out a cry of pain and fell onto the floor as she clutched her stomach.

"What's going on!" Shizuku asked in shock.

"I…don't know….ugh….My body feels weird…" Mikoto replied in fragments. Black smoke started to form around her body like some sort of aura. Suddenly, the smoky aura left Mikoto's body and formed a shape next to her. The shape started to take on a more humanoid appearance by the second until it finally came out as an exact replica of Mikoto. The only difference was that the second Mikoto had crimson red eyes and wore a black and red variant of Mikoto's outfit.

"Ahaha … knew that if I hid out in your body for a while you'd eventually lead me to the others." Dark Mikoto said with an evil chuckle.

"I should have known that it was you damn Schatten that were up to this." I said. "Only your kind would even consider playing a dirty trick like that."

"Dirty trick? No, you misunderstand; I'm simply here to deliver a message." Dark Mikoto said innocently. "If you want to rid this place of the Black Night, then come find me again. I'll be waiting at the location of the Fragment."

"Black Night? Fragment? What are you talking about?" Kaede asked.

"Oh, come now, you and your friend Mamoru of all people should know about that by now." Dark Mikoto said mockingly. "But as for the actual location of the Fragment, you'll have to find that on your own." And with that, Dark Mikoto raised her palm towards us and before we knew it, we were all blasted backwards by an unknown force. When we looked back to where she had been, Dark Mikoto was now gone without a trace.

"What the hell…." Kanade asked as we all got up.

"It looks like we just got called out." Shizuku said. "But first, we need to figure out what she meant by the 'Black Night' and 'the Fragment'."

"I can only assume that this 'Black night' is referring to the darkness that's covered everything. And the Fragment…." I said.

"Mamoru, could this Fragment be like the thing we saw back in Japan?" Kaede asked. "When the darkness first showed up." I recalled the massive meteor-like object that had almost crushed me and Kaede back in Japan, and the strange beam that it emitted towards the sky as well.

"You may be right, Kaede. But we won't know for sure until we find Dark Mikoto again." I replied.

"Now we need to try and figure out where the Fragment would be located."Akane added. "It would have to be someplace that you wouldn't think about right away. Somewhere that would be hard to get to." I looked out at the city and almost immediately a single building caught my attention. It was a building that was higher than any of the others in the city. And atop it I could just barely make out a dim purple column rising up from the top of the building and vanishing into the black clouds above.

"I think I just found it." I said as I gestured toward my discovery. The others saw the building and nodded in agreement. "Mikoto, I'll have to ask you to get in contact with Tara. She knows this city better than any of us, so we'll need her expertise."

"I'm on it." Mikoto said as she took out her cell phone and started dialing a number into it.

"Okay, once Tara get's here, we need to move out ASAP. If we know how to start reversing the Schatten's plans, we need to take full advantage of it." I continued. "And if we encounter any Dark Puppets along the way, don't kill them. They may be working for the Schatten, but they're still only innocent people being used."

"Right." Kaede added.

"And finally, when we get to the Fragment, let's fight with everything we've got." I added. "Is everyone on the same page?"

"Got it." The others said.

"We made a good choice by making you the leader, Mamoru; you get right down to business." Akane said.

"Save the compliments for later; right now, we have a mission to complete." I replied as Mikoto walked over to us.

"Tara said that she'll be here in a few minutes. Do we have a plan?" Mikoto asked.

"We have a plan, but you're staying here for now." I replied.

"What? Why?" Mikoto asked.

"You're in no condition to fight right now after what happened to you." I said.

"I'm going no matter what." Mikoto said with her hands on her hips. I took one good look at her face and saw that judging by the look on it, she was very serious.

"Alright, fine…" I said with a sigh. "Just be careful at the very least."

"Fair enough, I guess." Mikoto replied. After a few minutes, we saw Tara approaching the ship and we went down to meet her.

"Okay, so what's the story? Mikoto told me a few things about what's happened so far, but I don't know where we're going." Tara said.

"We think that we've figured out where we need to go, but we'll need your knowledge of where things are around here to guide us there." I replied as I gestured towards the massive building that was still visible even from ground level.

"Huh? The Empire State Building?" Tara asked. "Well, it makes sense; it's one of the tallest buildings not just in New York, but in the world. So if these Schatten were hiding something, then it would make sense to hide it at the top."

"Good to know." I replied. "Can you lead us there?"

"Of course I can." Tara replied with a nod. "I know this city pretty well." And with that, Tara led us through the city until we eventually came up to the building known as the Empire State Building. Up close, the building's true height was revealed as something that could reach the heavens.

"Wow…." Akane said in awe.

"Yeah, this is pretty amazing." I replied with equal awe as I tried to see the top. "If I'm correct, then the Fragment would most likely be at the top of this thing."

"You may be right. We should get going now. Strike while the iron's hot, you know." Tara added.

"Right, let's go!" I said as we dashed into the building. Immediately we found an elevator on the other side of the room. We ran over to it and the doors opened upon the press of a button. The lot of us piled in and set the elevator to take us straight to the top. Once the elevator was at somewhere around the twenty-fifth floor, it suddenly halted with a great jerk and the lights inside went out completely.

"What just happened?" Kaede asked.

"It must have been Dark Mikoto, she must have known we were here and shut off the power to the elevator." Shizuku answered.

"I agree, Shizuku. She said she'd be waiting for us when we found the Fragment, so this must have been her doing." I added. "But the problem at hand now is how we're going to get up to the Fragment while we're potentially stuck in an elevator."

"Hey, wait a minute Mamoru. What if you used your electric Zauber to power the elevator system?" Kanade asked.

"I don't know; I've never done something like that before. What do you think, Midori?" I replied both out loud and in my head.

"_It's worth a shot, I guess."_ Midori replied.

"Is he talking to himself?" Tara asked the others in puzzlement.

"Something like that." I replied as I transformed into my Kampfer form and let some energy build up in my hands, dimly illuminating the elevators' interior with a pale glow.

"You guys might want to be careful." I warned the others as I placed my hands against the panel next to the doors. I instantly let the electrical energy in my hands loose and hoped for the best. There was a wait of one second, then two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, and then the elevator hummed to life once more and continued its ascent. As the lights came back on, I took my hands off the panel and sighed.

"That was amazing, Mamoru." Mikoto said. "How did you know that would work?"

"Actually….I was sort of just winging it…haha." I said as I rubbed the back of my head nervously.

_**(A/N: Hooray for accidental power development! :D)**_

"That's Mamoru for you." Shizuku said teasingly. As the elevator continued to ascend, we made sure we had a plan for our inevitable confrontation with Dark Mikoto. After a few minutes, we reached the eighty-sixth floor and the elevator's doors opened, signaling we had reached our destination.

"How high is this building exactly?" Kanade asked.

"There's about a hundred and two floors in this building. We're still a ways away from the top, but the stairs will help us out." Tara replied.

"Right, I would suggest that we all transform into our Kampfer forms for the last leg of this." I said.

"That's right; our Kampfer forms grant us a lot more stamina than normal, so that should help us get to the top a bit faster." Kanade added. We all transformed into our Kampfer forms and prepared ourselves for the fight that was soon to come. Looking over, I noticed Tara's Kampfer form for the first time. Overall, the only thing that changed was that her hair was no longer blond, but rather a silvery white and was in curls as opposed to the usual straightness. Her eyes had also changed to a light blue as well.

"Okay, so we know the plan, right?" I asked the others before we began our final ascent.

"Yeah, once we find the Fragment, we hit it with all we've got in order to destroy it." Mikoto replied and the others nodded.

"Good, then let's move out!" I replied as we all broke into a run up the staircase. _"Something else I'm concerned about is what'll happen once Mikoto faces herself….Will she be able to handle it?"_ These thoughts rushed through my head as fast as we rushed through each staircase, encountering the occasional group of Dark Puppets every few floors or so until we finally we reached the one hundredth floor. And wouldn't you know it, there was someone waiting for us when we got there.

"It's about time you guys got here." Dark Mikoto said with her back turned to us and her hands placed behind her back. "I was starting to wonder if you'd show up at all or not."

"Cut the crap!" I said loudly. "What is it you and your friends are planning to do with these Fragments and this unnatural darkness?"

"Well why would I tell you that?" Dark Mikoto asked innocently. "At least at this point in time, that is."

"If you don't tell us, it won't matter!" Mikoto interjected. "We'll just find out one way or another. And when we do, we'll put a stop to it and the Schatten!"

"Yes, but how do you know that you'll get lots of recognition for it?" Dark Mikoto asked challengingly.

"What the hell are you spurting out now?" Mikoto asked.

"Recognition, fame….How do you know that you'll get these things by stopping us from achieving our ultimate goal?" Dark Mikoto asked.

"I…I don't care about that kind of stuff." Mikoto replied.

"Ha! Says the girl who's always lived in the shadow of two famous archeologists for parents!" Dark Mikoto spat back.

"In the shadow of them…?" Mikoto asked. "What are you talking about!"

"You should know, always having to live with the constant mention of your parents and their 'amazing discoveries'. Everywhere you went with them, someone would always stop them and ask question after question while you had to sit in the sidelines and listen to it all." Dark Mikoto replied.

"T-That's not true!" Mikoto said in a trembling voice.

"Oh, but it is, and you should know it. You were always so annoyed that they were the ones who always got the attention." Dark Mikoto continued.

"N-No…shut up!" Mikoto yelled.

" 'One day, I'll become famous too, then everyone will forget all about them and start crowding around me'." Dark Mikoto said mockingly.

"No! Shut up!" Mikoto yelled even louder. "That isn't true! You don't know me at all!"

"But…of course I know you. You want to know why….?" Dark Mikoto asked mockingly. "….Because I _AM_ you!"

"No….Shut up! Just shut up!" Mikoto was now yelling with her voice also trembling. "You're.…you're…."

"Mikoto! Don't say it!" I shouted.

"You're not me!" Mikoto yelled out.

"What was that, I couldn't quite hear you?" Dark Mikoto asked mockingly as she laughed.

"I said….You're not me!" Mikoto repeated. "You're just a worthless imitation!"

"That's right….I'm my own person now…." Dark Mikoto said with an evil chuckle which turned into an all-out laugh. Suddenly, Dark Mikoto's hair began to turn to a messier version of Mikoto's hair and turned a dark brown as well. Tendrils of black smoke rose up from the floor and wrapped themselves around her body which soon engulfed her in an aura of the same kind.

"This looks bad…" Tara said in alarm.

"Should we help Mikoto?" Akane asked.

"No, she needs to face herself." I said.

"Mikoto! You need to beat her if we're going to get to that Fragment!" I called over.

"R-Right…" Mikoto said as she got up and summoned her katana. Mikoto charged forward and her counterpart did the same. The two met in the middle as their blades clashed. Both girls struggled to overpower the other, but in the end, each one kept fighting back. The cycle kept going until Mikoto finally managed to drive back her opponent and get a few good slashes in her.

"Whatever….it doesn't matter. I'll still beat you in the end." Dark Mikoto spat out. She stood up and raised her sword above her head. Black smoke began to gather within the blade and surround Dark Mikoto's body as well. "And the end has finally come!" And with that, Dark Mikoto swung her sword vertically, sending a wave of black smoke hurtling towards a helpless Mikoto. Before I knew it, Tara had dashed forward and summoned forth a massive sword the blade of which was easily her height. She leaped in the path of the incoming attack and sliced it apart with her weapon.

"T-Tara…?" Mikoto asked in shock. Tara turned around and placed a hand on Mikoto's shoulder.

"Mikoto; let me take care of the rest, alright." Tara said calmly. Mikoto only nodded and stepped back a few feet. Tara turned back to face Dark Mikoto and readied her weapon.

"Aw, too bad…And I was hoping to kill her first." Dark Mikoto said teasingly.

"Shut it. You're about to see what happens when you try to hurt my friends." Tara said. She charged forward and Dark Mikoto did the same, the two met in the middle and a new clash occurred.

This time, however; Tara managed to almost immediately end the clash and drove Dark Mikoto back onto the ground. Tara swung her blade down on her opponent who barely managed to block the attack. But due to the strength of Tara's swing and the weight and size of her sword, the blade of Dark Mikoto's small katana was merely sliced in half from the force of Tara's attack.

Dark Mikoto suddenly swept her foot under Tara and sent her falling to the ground while Dark Mikoto got back onto her feet. I rushed over to help Tara to her feet, once she got to her feet, Tara got a stranger look in her eyes that might suggest that she had an idea.

"Hey, Mamoru, you're a Zauber-type right?" Tara asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Do you think that you could put some of that energy into my sword?" Tara asked.

"Of course I can." I answered. I focused some electricity into my palms and placed them against Tara's massive sword. The blade began to crackle with the energy and I took my hands away from it.

"Thanks, I plan to finish this quickly." Tara said. Tara ran forward and leaped into the air. With one mighty swing, she sent out a large wave of energy that crackled with lightning. The projectile went barreling towards Dark Mikoto and struck her dead on before she could properly react, sending her into a wild spasm of shock-induced jerks that lasted a few seconds.

"Whoa, I thought that I was the only one who could do that." I remarked in surprise.

"I've been able to do this for quite some time now." Tara replied with a shrug before she looked back towards the now standing and motionless Dark Mikoto.

"I…I think I understand now…." Mikoto said from behind us. She walked up to Dark Mikoto and didn't say a word at first. All the while Dark Mikoto stood there in the same spot as still as a stone.

"Mikoto…?" Akane asked.

"You…you really are me, aren't you?" Mikoto asked softly.

"Of course it is, Mikoto." I said as Mikoto looked back at me. "It hurts to face yourself, but it's something that we all have to do at some point."

"He's right, and for you, that time is now." Shizuku added. Mikoto nodded as she turned to face her counterpart once more.

"You're me….and I'm you. You're a part of me that I tried to keep hidden." Mikoto said. "It's true that I've always been jealous of my parents' fame. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to grow up and become famous in the hopes that I could get some of the same attention that my parents always get from others." Dark Mikoto smiled and placed a hand on her counterparts' shoulder before morphing into a mass of purple light that flowed into Mikoto's body.

"Mikoto, are you okay?" Tara asked as she and the rest of us walked over to where Mikoto stood.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mikoto replied.

"How do you feel now that you've faced yourself?" I asked.

"Actually, I feel pretty good now. I feel like I don't have anything holding me back anymore." Mikoto replied happily. Suddenly, Mikoto's katana appeared in her hands and started to glow a light purple color as it morphed and reformed itself into a new shape. Once the light faded, it was revealed that Mikoto's katana had transformed into a long staff.

"This is the symbol of your strength of heart." I said. "Because you faced yourself, you changed yourself, and your weapon as well it seems."

"I guess you're right, Mamoru." Mikoto replied as she held up the staff. "I've also made a decision; I'm going to strive to become a well-known archeologist one day. Not because of fame or anything like that, but because I want to see what I can accomplish."

"That's great, Mikoto." Kanade replied with a smile. After a few more minutes, we walked up to the one hundred and second floor and saw that there was a massive meteor-like object in the center of the room. But before we could even so much as touch it, the entire thing shattered into hundreds of pieces that vanished upon hitting the ground.

"I guess that settles that." Shizuku remarked. Suddenly, we saw that a bright light was appearing outside.

We rushed over to the edge of the observation deck and saw that the black clouds were dissolving to reveal the clear blue skies that we knew and loved. As far as the eye could see, the clouds gave way to blue skies and warm sunlight. We stood there and took in the sensation for a few minutes before walking back down to the eighty-sixth floor and taking the elevator the rest of the way down.

"Well, we're one step closer to the end of this dark nightmare." Kaede said once we exited the building.

"Yeah, but we still have five Schatten to go, so we still have a ways to go." I replied. Suddenly, a phone went off nearby, I turned to see Kanade answer her cell phone and talk for a minute or two before hanging up.

"that was Aika, she said that we're all set to go tomorrow morning." Kanade said.

"You guys are leaving tomorrow?" Tara asked. "Well count me in."

"Well, no one said that you weren't already a part of the team." I replied. "You're welcome to come with us."

"Like I said, count me in. I want to beat these Schatten as much as you guys do." Tara said.

"Then it's settled, welcome to the…um….what should we call ourselves?" I said.

"Uh….the Resistance." Mikoto suggested.

"Yeah, welcome to the Resistance, Tara." I said as Tara smiled. Once it came time for us to leave the next day, Tara had already gotten settled into the ship and was excited to be going around the world. We set sail and after a few minutes, we noticed something pretty incredible, ahead of us was what appeared to be a massive wall of black smoke that went higher than any of us could see. It's like the blue sky seemed to simply end where the wall and the sky met.

"Is that….?" Mikoto asked.

"I think so." I answered. "As much as I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the clear blue sky, it looks like we have no choice….Into the Black Night we go." As the ship approached the wall, I wondered what would happen next once we crossed back into the Black Night. I knew one thing for sure, there would surely be adventure wherever we went.

"_Here we go again."_ I thought.

_**Okay, that's a wrap!**_

_**This chapter was quite interesting in a few ways. But that's not the task at hand. The task at hand is the next chapter; which is where we'll see our heroes, with the addition of Tara, venture back into the Black Night. What surprises will await them there? Where will their journey take them next? And who will be the next one to face themselves?**_

_**As for that last question, I will leave that decision up to you, the readers. You will get to decide who will be the next person to face themselves. Your choices are:**_

_**Akane**_

_**Shizuku**_

_**Kanade**_

_**Tara will not have a Schatten counterpart and Mamoru will be the last to face himself. That is why they are not in the list of choices. So, you have these three choices to pick from. The one who gets the most votes will be the next one to face their Schatten counterpart in the story.**_

_**Reader: Hooray! A new poll!**_

_**Me: I know, right?**_

_**Yeah…ignore me there.**_

_**Anyways, I'll see you guys later!**_

**:D**


	8. Chapter 8: World Tour, Episode 2

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 8: World Tour, Episode 2

_**Alright, time for the next chapter.**_

_**Enjoy! **_**:D**

"Well, we're one step closer to the end of this dark nightmare." Kaede said once we exited the building.

"Yeah, but we still have five Schatten to go, so we still have a ways to go." I replied. Suddenly, a phone went off nearby, I turned to see Kanade answer her cell phone and talk for a minute or two before hanging up.

"That was Aika; she said that we're all set to go tomorrow morning." Kanade said.

"You guys are leaving tomorrow?" Tara asked. "Well count me in."

"Well, no one said that you weren't already a part of the team." I replied. "You're welcome to come with us."

"Like I said, count me in. I want to beat these Schatten as much as you guys do." Tara said.

"Then it's settled, welcome to the…um….what should we call ourselves?" I said.

"Uh….the Resistance." Mikoto suggested.

"Yeah, welcome to the Resistance, Tara." I said as Tara smiled. Once it came time for us to leave the next day, Tara had already gotten settled into the ship and was excited to be going around the world. We set sail and after a few minutes, and we noticed something pretty incredible, ahead of us was what appeared to be a massive wall of black smoke that went higher than any of us could see. It's like the blue sky seemed to simply end where the wall and the sky met.

"Is that….?" Mikoto asked.

"I think so." I answered. "As much as I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the clear blue sky, it looks like we have no choice….Into the Black Night we go." As the ship approached the wall, I wondered what would happen next once we crossed back into the Black Night. I knew one thing for sure; there would surely be adventure wherever we went.

"_Here we go again."_ I thought. The ship slowly approached the wall and once it was right in front of it, the wall gave off a slight ripple upon contact with the ship and we simply passed through it to be greeted by the familiar ice-cold darkness from the Black Night.

"Ugh, I completely forgot how creepy this place feels." Kanade said as she shivered slightly from the chill brought on by the darkness around us. "Also, where exactly are we going to go next?" Kanade actually had a point; we really didn't know what to do or where to go next.

"Well, I guess we need to choose a destination." I replied. "I mean, no matter where we go, it's guaranteed to be covered by the Black Night."

"What about Paris?" Tara suggested.

"You mean in France?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to go there, and it's a fairly well-known place, so why not look there?" Tara replied.

"Anyone else agrees or disagrees?" I asked the others. No one spoke up in objection. "Alright, then I guess that we're going to Paris. I'll go tell Akihiko." The others nodded as I walked off and made my way to the operating room where Akihiko was supposed to be. I knocked on the door in front of me and I was answered by a male voice.

"Come on in." The voice said. I opened the door and stepped inside. Standing in front of the wheel that controls the ship was a man with unkempt silvery white hair, green eyes, and a small scar under his right eye. What caught me off guard was the age of the man, he was no older than nineteen at the most from the looks of it, and he was actually barely taller than me.

"You must be Akihiko, I presume." I said as I walked over to the man.

That would be me, Akihiko Tachibana. And I guess that you're the friend that Ms. Satonaka was telling me about." Akihiko replied as he looked over at me.

"So, what else do you do for Kanade's family besides pilot the ship?" I asked as I was actually sort of curious.

"I guess you could say that I'm like the male equivalent to Aika, so to speak." Akihiko replied.

"Ah, I see, the old butler type eh." I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but you won't find me talking in any sort of fancy accent or having a bald spot on my head." Akihiko replied with a chuckle of his own.

"And here I thought that that was right up your alley." I said jokingly. Akihiko and I laughed for a few seconds at that.

"You know, I'm never normally this open to anyone other than Aika or Ms. Satonaka. I was never really the friendly type when I was younger, but with you, I feel like that's sort of just thrown out the window." Akihiko said. "And to be honest, I'm actually pretty fond of you already."

"Uh, are you gay?" was my response to that.

"HELL NO!" Akihiko exclaimed.

"Relax, I'm just teasing, but seriously, the reason I came up here was to tell you that we've decided to take a look around Paris, France." I said with a chuckle.

"Paris, eh? Nice choice." Akihiko said. "You never know where the Schatten will be."

"So you know about the Schatten?"" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, Ms. Satonaka told me about them. The only reason I believe her is because of this." Akihiko said as he lifted up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal that there was a purple gauntlet on his right arm.

"Ah, so you're a Kampfer like the rest of us, eh?" I said as I beheld the object on Akihiko's arm.

"Yeah, so if you ever want me to join you guys out in the field, then just say the word." Akihiko replied. I nodded and turned around to leave before adding one more thing.

"Oh yeah, and you mentioned that you weren't exactly the friendly type when you were younger, well you and I should hang out more often. You'll find that making friends is a lot easier than you think."I said before walking out of the room and closing the door behind me.

_**(Five days later….)**_

After a few days of straight sailing, we finally reached France. After we got settled at a dock, we went and found a place to exchange our money for the French currency known as Euros. The strange thing was, when we were there, we were able to understand them as if they were speaking Japanese. I assumed that this was because of what Midori had mentioned before.

After that, we decided to explore Paris a bit and saw that it was a truly beautiful city from what we saw. While we were walking, Kanade accidentally bumped into a person that was passing by us.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" the man scolded in French, and as I expected, we were able to understand him.

"I-I'm so sorry, sir." Kanade said. But she actually said it in what I presumed to be French; that alone caught my interest.

"Well make sure that it doesn't happen again." The man said before walking off.

"I didn't know that you could speak French, Kanade." I said.

"Actually, I don't. It sort of just came to me." Kanade replied.

"Huh? I wonder…" I said quietly. "Hey Midori, is it possible that what you said some time ago could work the other way around?"

"_Considering what just happened with Kanade, I would have to say yes._" Midori mentally replied.

"Well, that's certainly interesting." I said. "Apparently, we can not only understand most languages, but we can also speak them. And it's all because of our gauntlets."

"Wow." Kaede said in awe.

"I need to remember to thank Tetsuya and my dad later." I added. Suddenly, I saw a person not too far away out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't tell much about who they were, but what I could tell was that it was a girl maybe a year older than me.

Her clothing consisted of what appeared to be a small pink jacket that went an inch or two past her bust line, a yellow shirt underneath that, a white skirt, and black boots. I couldn't see any of her face, since she was walking in a slightly darker part of the street. But I already had a faint idea in my head.

"No…no it couldn't be…" I said. The girl looked in my direction, and when I finally saw her face, my stomach flipped. Upon seeing me, the girl suddenly started to run off. Due to my want for answers as to why this was happening, I started to run after her. The others were calling out to me in confusion, but I simply ignored them and kept up my chase of the girl. She rounded a corner and I didn't hesitate to follow.

"Hey! Wait! Stop!" I called out as the girl started to pick up speed. I began to run faster as well as the girl rounded another corner. Once I was sure that I was going to catch up with her, the girl rounded a corner and went into a barely-lit alleyway. I made my way into the alley as well, but found that there was no sign of the girl whatsoever.

"What? Where did she go…?" I asked no one in particular. "Why is this happening? Am I seeing things? S-She's supposed to be dead…"

"Mamoru." I heard Akane call out my name . I turned around to see that the others had followed me and were now standing in front of me.

"Mamoru, what happened? You just ran off all of a sudden." Mikoto asked.

"I-I….It's nothing…" I replied, not sure of whether I should tell the others or not. "Let's..Let's just go back to the ship." I walked past the others and made my way back to the ship with the others trailing behind.

_**…..**_

Later that night, I was out on the top deck, staring out at Paris while thoughts about what happened today were swimming in my head.

"This can't be possible…she's supposed to be dead….I saw her die with my own eyes." I said quietly. Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me, I turned around to see Shizuku walking towards me.

"Mamoru, are you okay? You looked really shaken up earlier today." Shizuku asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Well, earlier today I thought that I saw…." I began.

"You saw what?" Shizuku asked.

"I…I thought that I saw Hikari…" I said.

"You mean, your sister Hikari?" Shizuku asked.

"Yeah…" I replied flatly. "That's why I ran off earlier, I wanted to see if that really was her."

"But…she's supposed to be dead isn't she?" Shizuku asked.

"Yeah, I saw every second of it happen with my own eyes…" I said as the memory played in my mind…

_**(Flashback)**_

_Mamoru attempted to get up, but found that the intense burning sensation in her stomach had other plans as she gasped when a jolt of such pain struck her and fell to her knees, clutching her stomach._

_Mamoru watched helplessly as Daisuke reached Hikari's location and began to attack her furiously and without ceasing. Mamoru could only watch as her sister was unable to find an opening to attack her new opponent back. She couldn't let this continue any longer, Mamoru found the strength to get up from her knees despite the retaliating shots of burning pain that struck her over and over and began to slowly walk towards Hikari in an attempt to save her._

"_Don't worry….Hikari….I'm almost….there.." Mamoru said in a strained voice, though she knew that she could not be heard by anyone. But before Mamoru could fully reach the location of her sister, Daisuke dealt what Mamoru was certain was the final blow to Hikari, having thrust his sword into her back and instantly removing it with rough force._

_Hikari fell to the ground, her eyes growing blank as she fell. Mamoru suddenly found more strength and made her way over to her fallen sister. Daisuke noticed this and laughed at the sight._

"_Ha! So you decided to make things easier for me, eh?" Daisuke asked mockingly as he looked at Mamoru staring down at the lifeless body of Hikari. "It's a shame…She barely put up a fight, well, if you could call screams of pain a fight."_

_Mamoru found that the burning pain from before had vanished, instead it was replaced by another feeling; anger. Anger towards the Moderators for what they had done to her best friend, and anger towards Daisuke himself because of what he had just done to Hikari._

_Mamoru felt this emotion take hold as memories of Hikari in their childhood flooded into her mind and simply made her angrier, as Mamoru knew that she would be the only one that would remember these things. She doubted that even Kosuke would remember Hikari anymore after her death. And the moment when Mamoru's anger finally took hold was when she saw Hikari's body fade into oblivion before her very eyes._

"_No….no….no….Hi..Hikari….HIKARI!" Mamoru cried out as anger and rage filled her heart in that instant. Mamoru stood up and turned to face Daisuke. Her face was now twisted into an expression filled with nothing but hatred towards the one in front of her…._

_**….**_

"That was also the first time that I Ascended…" I said as the memory ended.

"You know that it wasn't your fault that she died." Shizuku said gently.

"Yeah, but I can't say that the thought never crossed my mind." I said. "Back then, I thought that I was supposed to be the man of the family, you know? With Dad gone, I thought that I had to be the one to protect my mom and Hikari in his stead."

"I know what you mean. It was the same sort of thing with me and Tamiko. " Shizuku replied. "I admired her like she was my sister, so you can imagine that we were close friends."

"Sometimes I just wish that there was a way to turn back time and go back to that day. If there was a way I could have saved her, I have no doubt in my mind that I would have jumped at it." I said.

"you really did care about her didn't you?" Shizuku asked.

"Of course, I knew her all my life, why wouldn't I care about her?" I replied. "Seeing her again today, whether that was real or not, it reminded me of all that stuff. And it just sent me for a loop."

"I'm sure things will become clear soon enough." Shizuku added.

"Thanks, Shizuku." I replied. "I'm going to go and try to get some sleep, we need to have everyone at their peak for when we find the next Schatten."

"You're right. Just know that we're all counting on you, leader." Shizuku said with a smile. "Good night."

"Good night." I replied before walking off and heading towards my room.

_**…..**_

A few hours later, I awoke to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I got out of bed and lethargically made my way to the door. When I answered it, I was greeted by the panicked expression of Tara.

"Tara? What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked in a still confused state.

"We have a pretty big problem." Tara replied.

"A problem?" I asked. The next sentence that left Tara's mouth immediately woke me up.

"Kanade's missing." Tara said.

_**Okay, I would like to start off with saying sorry for the inconsistency of my update times, I seem to have grown out of my original schedule and I am currently working on a new one.**_

_**Also, sorry for the lack of things happening in the chapter, this is just a filler chapter before the big fight next chapter. This also explains why the chapter is shorter than normal.**_

_**Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and believe it or not, we're already almost halfway done with it. I am anticipating the ending, as it will have you all utterly flabbergasted. NO SPOILERS BY THE WAY!**_

_**Anyways, next chapter, we will see the next protagonist face themselves. Until then, I am MPdragonfire, and this has been the eighth chapter of Kampfer: The Final Saga, Book Three: Im Schatten.**_

_**Later!**_

**:D**


	9. Chapter 9: True Colours

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 9: True Colours

_**Time for Chapter 9!**_

_**Have fun!**_

**:D**

"Sometimes I just wish that there was a way to turn back time and go back to that day. If there was a way I could have saved her, I have no doubt in my mind that I would have jumped at it." I said.

"You really did care about her didn't you?" Shizuku asked.

"Of course, I knew her all my life, why wouldn't I care about her?" I replied. "Seeing her again today, whether that was real or not, it reminded me of all that stuff. And it just sent me for a loop."

"I'm sure things will become clear soon enough." Shizuku added.

"Thanks, Shizuku." I replied. "I'm going to go and try to get some sleep; we need to have everyone at their peak for when we find the next Schatten."

"You're right. Just know that we're all counting on you, leader." Shizuku said with a smile. "Good night."

"Good night." I replied before walking off and heading towards my room.

_**…..**_

A few hours later, I awoke to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I got out of bed and lethargically made my way to the door. When I answered it, I was greeted by the panicked expression of Tara.

"Tara? What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked in a still confused state.

"We have a pretty big problem." Tara replied.

"A problem?" I asked. The next sentence that left Tara's mouth immediately woke me up.

"Kanade's missing." Tara said.

"What?" I asked. "What do you mean missing?"

"I mean just that, she's not in her room, and Aika said that she couldn't find her anywhere." Tara replied.

"Alright, gather the others and we'll discuss this more then." I said. Tara nodded and went to get the others. A while later, we were all on the top deck and discussing the possibilities.

You think that it could have been the Schatten?" Mikoto asked.

"It's a pretty big possibility, but one problem with that is that we don't know where they might be." I replied.

"I think that it's safe to say that they would be near the Fragment like Dark Mikoto was." Akane said.

"You're right, Akane." I said. I looked out over the city of Paris in search of the Fragment. I couldn't see it anywhere, but I thought that I was able to make out a faint purple light off in the distance.

"Can you see it?" Kaede asked.

"No, but I think I have a general idea of where it is." I replied as I pointed toward the light in the middle of the city. "That's where we need to go."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tara asked. "Let's go." The rest of us shrugged and we all left the ship behind as we made our way into the city. While we were walking, we were struggling to keep a close eye on the distant purple light that was still barely visible over the tall buildings of Paris. Suddenly, I thought that I could just make out the shape of a female figure in the shadows to my left. I shook my head to clear it and kept walking.

A few minutes later, however, I saw it again, and this time, it was more visible. The shape was similar to that of the figure I had seen earlier today. And what's more was that she seemed to be following us, staying in the shadows to keep from being seen by the others. My curiosity nagging away at me, I stopped walking and stared straight at the girl who I presumed to be Hikari. She stopped walking and matched my stare with one of her own, neither of us moved. The others noticed I had fallen behind and looked over at me.

"Mamoru?" Kaede asked. She then noticed the girl that had slightly stepped out of the shadows now. As my suspicions suggested, the girl was the same one who I had chased earlier. It was Hikari no doubt about it. Suddenly however, she ran in the opposite direction, retreating into the shadows once more. I immediately ran after her without thinking and began my pursuit. She climbed up onto a nearby fire escape and began to ascend the metallic staircase. I transformed into my Kampfer form and did the same, not letting up my chase.

Hikari had reached the rooftop and was running towards the edge. Before she could go off the edge however, she leaped straight across the gap and landed on the next rooftop. I quickened my pace and did the same, barely managing to land on the edge of the roof and continued running forward. Hikari began to run faster and leaped onto the next rooftop. I followed closely behind, making sure that I didn't lose any distance between me and her when it was possible.

The chase continued for a few more minutes, until Hikari and I had come to a larger gap between rooftops. This didn't seem to stop her however as she simply gained even more speed and leaped across the gap, barely managing to grab onto the edge of the roof and pull herself up. I picked up more speed as well and leaped across. At that moment, I noticed that Hikari was looking straight at me. The moment I made eye contact with her, I noticed that there was something very wrong going on here. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts as I almost missed the edge of the roof and just managed to grab it by the skin of my teeth. I pulled myself up and saw that Hikari was standing on the far side of the roof and looking right at me.

"See you later…" was all she said before she back flipped off of the roof. I ran over to the far edge and when I looked down, there wasn't the first sign of Hikari anywhere.

"Where did she go…?" I asked myself. "But what I'm interested in is…was that really Hikari? Her eyes…Hikari's eyes were teal. And those…those were red."

"Mamoru!" I heard Tara call out from behind me. IO turned around to see that everyone had surprisingly followed me the whole time.

"Mamoru, what happened?" Shizuku asked. "Was it her again?"

"Yeah, but this time, I noticed that there was something different about her that I didn't notice last time." I replied.

"What do you mean?" Shizuku asked.

"Hikari's eyes were teal. But the eyes I saw…they were blood red." I replied. "So either that's not the real Hikari, or there's something else going on here."

"Hey guys, I think I can see that light better from up here." Mikoto exclaimed. I looked where she was and saw that ahead of us was a massive metallic structure that had four 'legs' to it which all came together at one point and ended much higher up in a tip. I recognized the structure from one of the books Akane had brought along with her as the Eifel Tower, a well known monument around the world. I could actually make out a faint sickly purple light coming from the base of the tower.

"Alright, let's go then." I said as we all made our way down the nearby fire escape and hurried over to the location of the light.

_**…...**_

After a few minutes, we managed to reach the Eifel Tower after having to dispatch of a few Dark Puppets guarding the area before it. When we got to the area under the tower, sure enough there was the large Fragment in the center of the area, glowing with a sickly purple light. And in front of it were two Kanade's; the normal one, and the one in front of her who had dark grey hair instead of the normal silvery white. Her eyes were also a dark blue as well.

"Kanade!" I called out. Kanade turned to face us and smiled when she saw us hurrying towards her.

"Thank God you guys are here." Kanade said with a sigh. "Can we just get this one out of the way? It's starting to irritate me."

"Aw, how sweet, your princes came to rescue you." Dark Kanade said mockingly. "But…they're all girls, so they would be princesses now wouldn't they?"

"Where are you going with this?" Kanade asked.

"You know exactly where I'm going with this." Dark Kanade replied. "Especially given your…preferences…"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kanade said, raising her voice.

"Oh, don't tell me that you haven't thought about it." Dark Kanade said. "You've never cared for men, you've always liked girls over those awful men."

"N-No…that's not true…" Kanade said. "I've never thought that way…"

"Of course you have." Dark Kanade replied with a laugh. "'I've always liked girls, they're so much better than those disgusting men. Girls always smell so wonderful and they're always so kind. And whenever you play some sport, girls don't look at you funny and say things like 'but you're a girl'. Yes…girls are much better…"

"Shut up!" Kanade yelled.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid that if the truth comes out then your friends will leave you all alone?" Dark Kanade asked mockingly. "Just face it, the only reason that you don't tell anyone your secret is because you're afraid of being rejected by everyone!"

"I said shut up!" Kanade yelled even louder this time.

"After all…who would want to be friends with a girl like you?" Dark Kanade asked challengingly. "A mere lesbian…"

"W-What?" Kaede asked.

"Did I hear that right?" Akane added.

"No…it's not true!" Kanade yelled. "You're…"

"Kanade! Don't!" I shouted in an attempt to stop her from saying what I knew she was going to say, but I was too late.

"You're not me!" Kanade shouted. Dark Kanade began to chuckle which slowly built up to an all out laugh as an aura of dark red smoke surrounded her body.

"Oh…this power…It keeps building and building…If it keeps going like this I think I might…" Dark Kanade said as the aura fully engulfed her body and seemed to mute her words. When the aura vanished, Dark Kanade's appearance had changed. Her hair was now a light shade of blue, and her eyes were also a light shade of pink. The sundress that she wore as well as the boots she wore had both turned jet black on top of all this. Kanade quickly transformed and got ready for battle.

"Guys, let me handle this for now." Kanade said as she stepped forward and faced her dark counterpart. Kanade ran forward and attempted to throw a punch at her opponent, but she dodged and threw her own punch at Kanade. Dark Kanade was faster and managed to strike Kanade in the stomach and sent her reeling back from the force. Kanade countered with a sonic wave from her mouth that seemed to down Dark Kanade. After a few seconds however, Dark Kanade simply stood up and laughed.

"Is that really the best you've got?" Dark Kanade asked challengingly. "If so, then why don't I show you what I can do." Dark Kanade opened her mouth and suddenly, we were all sent backwards with our hands over our ears as we were assaulted by a horrid scratchy sound from all directions. After a few seconds, we all slowly stood up as the sound died. I saw that Kanade was still on the ground, she must have been weakened more by that attack than the rest of us. I slowly made my way over to Kanade and kneeled down next to her.

"Kanade, are you alright?" I asked. Kanade turned to me and I saw that her cheeks were slightly wet from the tears she had been shedding.

"What are you guys waiting for? Just get out of here." Kanade said. "Now that you know my secret, then why bother staying? She was right, I'm afraid that if people knew about my…preferences…then they would just reject me."

"Sempai…Do you know why I call you that?" I asked calmly. "It's my way of saying that we'll be friends no matter what. It doesn't matter to me who or what you prefer; all that matters to me is that we've been friends for as long as we have."

"Mamoru…" Kanade said quietly.

"That's how I fell, and I'm sure that the others feel that way too." I continued. "Isn't that right guys?"

"Exactly." Shizuku replied.

"I couldn't have put it better myself." Kaede added.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter to us what your preference is." Akane said.

"That's just what I was about to say." Tara chimed in.

"I agree with the others. We would accept you regardless of your walk of life." Mikoto said.

"Kanade, four years ago, you lent me your knowledge…" "I said. "Now, let me lend you my strength." I outstretched my hand to Kanade and she slowly took it. After she was on her feet, I moved a few feet to the side and stretched my arms out to my left, an idea forming in my head.

"Mamoru, what are you doing?" Kanade asked.

"I'll explain later, for now just mirror my movements as best as you can." I said. I looked over to see Kanade mirroring my stance. I sidestepped to the right and Kanade went to her left. I stretched my arms out to the right and Kanade did so to the left. The two of us raised our left and right legs up respectively and brought them down in one fluid motion while thrusting our upper bodies to the side with our arms in a crescent formation. The moment our fingertips met, I could feel an immense power flowing through me as Kanade and I were enveloped in a bright light.

_**(A/N: Whaaat! A DBZ reference? In my domain? BLASPHEME!)**_

I could feel this strange feeling in my body, almost as if Kanade and I had joined in body and in mind. I could feel Kanade's consciousness and mine as well come together into one body. I could see a figure in…I guess I should say 'our' mind's eye. It was a female figure wearing a grey sundress under a jean jacket and coupled with a pair of black heeled boots and yellow-green fingerless gloves. The figure's hair was black with blue streaks and highlights running through it while it was tied into a long ponytail, and the eyes were golden yellow. Somehow, I knew that this figure was me…or us I guess.

"_Are you ready, Mamoru?"_ Kanade's voice echoed in our mind.

"_More than ever."_ I replied in our mind. When we opened our eyes, Dark Kanade was standing in her same spot with a look of shock on her face.

"What? Where are the other two?" Dark Kanade asked.

"The Kampfer?" we asked, our voices merged together. "They are here, we are one. Unfortunately for you, Schatten."

_**(A/N: What! DBGT references! DOUBLE BLASPHEME! Also, if you ever wondered what it's like to be a Fusion Warrior…then here you go.)**_

"T-They fused…?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Incredible…" Shizuku remarked with equal surprise.

I don't care if you fuse. You can't deny the truth." Dark Kanade said as she released another sonic wave from her mouth. We simply stood there however, unaffected by the attack.

"Not going to work." We said; a cocky smile on our face. We broke into a run towards our opponent and started to fire blast after blast of electrical energy at her. The latter was unable to dodge the projectiles as they rocketed towards their target.

Dark Kanade was eventually knocked down by our assault and slowly got up afterwards. We immediately rocketed forward however, and started to literally run circles around Dark Kanade. Our opponent tried to see where we were, but was instead greeted by a blast of electrical energy when she did so.

Then, we began to barrage her with a sonic wave as we continued to run around her. Dark Kanade eventually began to get disoriented, and that was when we started to slow down. We drew our revolver and fired a single shot at Dark Kanade's stomach, which sent her falling back onto the ground and when she got up again, she was standing there motionless. After performing the Fission Dance, Kanade and I split from our fused state and I nudged Kanade forward. Kanade slowly approached the now motionless Schatten and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You…you really are me…And I'm you." Kanade said. "You were right, I've always had different preferences compared to most girls, and I was afraid that if people knew about it, then they would view me differently just because of that. I always thought that I would never be able to find friends that would accept me as a normal person if they knew. But…I think that I've had those friends all along." Kanade turned to the rest of us and smiled before turning back to her counterpart. Dark Kanade smiled and vanished in a puff of purple smoke that flowed into Kanade's body.

Kanade began to glow and after a few seconds, her hair shifted to a bright shade of pink, her eyes changed to a sky blue, and a faint purple aura could be seen around her body.

"Kanade…?" Tara asked in awe. The rest of us also witnessed Kanade's appearance change and then change back shortly afterwards.

"Kanade…this is incredible. As a result of facing yourself, you've gained access to the Ascension ability." I remarked in amazement. "That's the sign of your strength of heart."

"This…this power I felt…Not just when we were fused Mamoru, but just now too…It feels amazing." Kanade said.

"Well, three Schatten down, and three to go!" Mikoto cheered. And as if on cue, the Fragment behind us shattered like glass, ridding another part of the world from the Schatten's power. The evening sky broke through the black clouds that were now disappearing. A full moon also shone through the clouds and illuminated the city beautifully.

"Well, shall we head back to the ship?" I asked. "We have a long walk back." The others nodded and we began our trek back to the ship, and to the next location of the next Schatten.

_**Okay, so…that's the chapter. We're almost done with the story, only halfway done though, but we're still fairly close. This is the part of the story where the slightly less canonical parts of it are being made known, so…yeah. I'm going to let you guys take a wild guess at where the group is going to go next. As well as who is going to be the next one to face themselves. As of now, you only have the choice of either Shizuku or Akane, since Mamoru will be the last one to face himself no matter what. (Endgame maybe?) Also as I said before, Tara does not have a Schatten counterpart.**_

_**Anyways, see you later!**_

**:D**


	10. Chapter 10: World Tour, Episode 3

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 10: World Tour, Episode 3

_**I'M NOT DEAD!**_

_**Reader: \(^^)/**_

_**Anyways, time for chapter 10, this'll just be some filler and fluff; you guys should know the drill by now.**_

_**And guess how we're going to start this chapter off. If you guessed with another one of Mamoru's "dreams", then you get a cookie!**_

_**Reader: \(^^)/**_

_**I do not own Kampfer; I only own Mamoru Tsuyoshi, Hikari Tsuyoshi, Kanade Satonaka, the Green Kampfer, and the Schatten.**_

"_Huh….Where am I….?" I asked no one in particular. I looked around and saw that I was floating above the earth in space. The scene looked oddly familiar to me for some reason._

"_Wait, isn't this….?" I asked myself. I suddenly felt a familiar feeling of dizziness and found myself no longer in space, but rather above an ocean. Below me were a vast number of small islands. I was drawn to one in particular as I got closer to it._

"_Huh…? Wait…Now I remember." I said out loud as the scene around me changed._

_I was suddenly hovering above a small area that had nothing really noticeable to it. Well….except for the lone man fighting a massive eight-headed and eight-tailed snake on the ground below me. The man had long black hair and wore what looked to be a robe decorated with multiple designs and symbols._

_He wielded a sword which he swung furiously at the gargantuan creature, slicing it apart bit by bit until finally, the creature was nothing more than a pile of sliced flesh. But out of nowhere, the events seemed to rewind and before I knew it, I was in the place of the man from before and I was the one who was attacking the creature. I stopped for a second to try and figure out what was going on._

_I was actually able to get a closer look at the creature in front of me from my current location on the field. The creature not only had eight heads and tails, but the eyes on each head were a different color, each pair glowing dimly. One pair of eyes were a dull red, another a pale blue, a third pair of eyes glowed a sickly purple, while the fourth pair were a bright yellow, a fifth pair of eyes gave off a bright white glow, while the sixth had a pale cyan glow to them, the seventh pair of eyes were a bright orange. And the eighth pair of eyes that belonged to the centermost head on the creature were a bright green in color._

_After I had sliced apart the creature in the place of the man from before, I walked over to one of the creatures' severed tails and pulled a strange looking sword from it before the scene around me changed once more._

"_What the hell did I just witness?" I asked myself. And at the same time, I felt as though I didn't need an answer, like the events that just transpired seemed familiar to me. I could feel something tugging at the back of my mind, a name or something like that._

"_Yamata….no….Orochi…." I could feel the words slip out from between my lips as I looked at my new environment to find that I was now on the surface of the moon. Suddenly, I saw a small torii in front of me, much like the ones at the front of a normal Japanese shrine. I walked through to see that there was a large black circle in front of me with a multitude of arcane designs within it. In the very center of the circle was the sword I had pulled out of the creature's tails, thrust into the lunar rock and emitting a very faint golden light._

_Suddenly, I could hear voices echoing throughout my head, they were the voices of my friends calling out my name. The voices grew louder and louder by the second as I could feel my body heating up now and becoming slightly numb. That was when everything went silent once more and I could hear only one voice that sounded like the mixing of multiple voices._

"_Soon….the fall of man….will be at hand…." The voice said. Then, I found myself in total darkness, I had no idea where I was, but that was quickly taken care of when an incredibly bright and vibrant golden light made itself present in the black void. From within the light, I could see a figure emerging from it, it wasn't until he was standing in front of me could I tell that it was me. The only difference however, was that the figure I was looking at had bright green hair and two large birdlike wings on his back._

"_Huh?" I asked myself. The second me placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled warmly._

"_It'll all become clear soon enough." That was all he said before he vanished without a trace. At that moment, I bolted up in bed and looked around for a second before getting my bearings._

"Hey, Mamoru, are you awake?" I heard Kanade outside of the door to my room and knocking. I quickly got up and began to get dressed.

"Just a sec!" I called out. After I had gotten ready, I went to the door and answered it. "Morning."

"Morning." Kanade replied. Kanade had a look on her face that said something was on her mind.

"Something wrong?" I asked. Kanade looked at me almost in surprise.

"You can tell?" Kanade asked.

"Yeah, I know these things like the back of my hand." I replied. "If you don't want to talk about it, then that's cool."

"Well, it's something I think I would feel more comfortable talking about it to you." Kanade answered. "It's about what happened two days ago, when you guys found me with my Schatten."

"And?" I asked in curiosity.

"Well, I guess what I mean to say is that it was…well kind of embarrassing when it started saying those things. I didn't want to believe any of it, but I knew in my mind that they were true. And what's more is that you guys were all there to witness it, you saw me at my weakest." Kanade said.

I smiled and placed a hand on Kanade's shoulder. "But even when you were at your weakest, you found a way to overcome that weakness and turn it into strength." I explained. "It's at our weakest points in our lives that we're the most vulnerable, but with the right determination, that can also be the point that we're at our strongest too. Just ask Kaede and Mikoto, they've experienced that as well."

"I think I get it, actually." Kanade replied.

"Yeah, and if what we saw the other day is true, then don't let the fears it creates inside you control your life." I continued.

"Thanks Mamoru, I feel a lot better now." Kanade said as she walked off. I smiled at the sight of her being able to face herself head on. Although I couldn't explain it at the moment, I felt as though I was satisfied in the sense, like I was supposed to help make that happen. I shook off the strange feeling and closed the door behind me and walked down the hall, my stomach signaling that it was empty.

_**(Yay for semi-epilogues!)**_

_**…..**_

A few days later, we decided to stop in China to re-gather some supplies and take a small break from fighting. As we were walking around a city called Shanghai, I thought I saw a familiar shape in a nearby alleyway. I looked in that direction to find that there was nothing there.

"_Great, now I'm seeing things…_" I thought bitterly.

"You're all Kampfer, correct?" A voice said from behind us. We turned around in surprise to find a young girl around my age with short black hair and purple eyes looking at us. I was about to answer when I noticed that a small beaded bracelet on her wrist was morphing and changing shape until it resembled the gauntlets that we all wore.

"How did you know?" Mikoto asked after a second.

"I could sense your presences nearby, so I went to investigate. As the girl spoke, I was aware that she was speaking Chinese, yet I could understand her quite well, this proved that what Midori had said was true after all.

"May I ask, if you don't mind, what your name is?" I asked the girl kindly. She nodded and introduced herself.

"My name is Chan Jingfei, nice to meet you all." Chan said.

"It's nice to meet you, Chan. I'm Kaede Sakura." Kaede replied.

"My name's Mikoto Kondo." Mikoto added.

"Kanade Satonaka would be my name." Kanade chimed in.

I'm Akane Mishima." Akane introduced herself.

"Shizuku Sango, nice to meet you." Shizuku added.

"Hi, I'm Tara Goodman." Tara said.

"And I'm Mamoru Tsuyoshi." I said once the others had introduced themselves. "So you're a Kampfer too, I assume." Chan nodded as her gauntlet changed back into its dormant form.

"Yes, and I can tell that you've all had a lot of experience at it as well." Chan said. She can tell all that just by looking at us? Damn. "I can also tell that you aren't from around here."

"You're right, we're actually from Japan." I replied. "So what were you doing out here?"

"I was actually on my way to go and train, would you like to join me?" Chan asked. That actually sounded like a good idea to me.

"What do you guys think?" I asked. The others nodded after a second and I turned back to Chan. "I guess that we're all up for it." Chan nodded and led us towards a small clearing in a nearby park. After we arrived, an idea formed in my head.

"Hey Kanade, since you just gained the ability to ascend, why don't I teach you how to use it." I suggested. Kanade nodded in return.

"That sounds like a good idea." Kanade replied.

I turned towards the others for their feedback. "You guys don't mind right?" I asked.

"I think that it'll work out." Shizuku replied and the others nodded. They all took a seat on the ground while Kanade and I went into a part of the clearing and we transformed into our Kampfer forms.

"Alright Kanade, just because we're friends doesn't mean that I'll go easy on you." I said with a smirk.

"I don't mind." Kanade replied.

"Okay, the trick to ascending is to clear your mind and focus on your inner strength." I said. "Let it build until it has nowhere to go but out. Like so…" I closed my eyes and let my energy build until I could feel the familiar surge of the transformation occurring, turning my hair and eyes to a bright green. "See? Now you try."

"Alright." Kanade said as she closed her eyes and focused. After a second, Kanade was enveloped in a flash of purplish light and when the glow had faded, Kanade's hair had shifted from silvery white to a bright shade of pink and her eyes had turned a sky blue. "I…I did it!"

"Not bad for your first try." I remarked. "At first, it takes a lot of emotional or mental output to trigger it. Like I used to have to get really worked up in order to trigger it, but now I can just ascend with a simple thought." I said as I powered down from my ascended state.

"So, you've always been able to do this, Mamoru?" Kanade asked.

"No…I gained this ability a few years ago after…" I trailed off as old memories started coming back to the surface. "…Never mind." I could tell that this confused Kanade, but she didn't ask me anything else about it after that. After a few more minutes, Kanade and I walked back over to the others. But right before anyone could say anything, a loud crash sounded from behind us. We turned around to see that a figure was emerging from a massive cloud of smoke. I had my suspicions about who it was that were confirmed once the figure was visible. The figure before us looked a lot like Akane, but with dark purple eyes and dark brown hair.

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked sarcastically. The Akane who I knew was in fact Dark Akane laughed.

"What? Can't a girl make a big entrance?" she asked with a chuckle. "The boss told me you were here, so I decided to drop by for a visit."

"Boss? Who are you talking about?" I asked. Dark Akane shook her head in reply.

"Ah, you'll have to wait 'till ya' see 'em." Dark Akane replied. "And I thought that I would deliver a message too. If ya' wanna smash the Fragment, then you'll have to find me at the Great Wall. See ya' there." And with that, Dark Akane disappeared without a trace.

"Huh? Where did she go?" Mikoto asked in confusion.

"With any luck, she went back to the Fragment." Shizuku replied.

"But, she said that this 'Fragment' was at the Great Wall." Chan spoke up. "There's a problem with that."

"What kind of problem?" Kaede asked.

"It's quite a ways away from Shanghai. It's right on the border of China in fact." Chan replied. "It would take you at least two days of walking to get there." That was actually sort of a big problem.

"Yeah, and I remember reading that the Great Wall is the actual border of China that separates it from the other countries around it. So even if we were to get there, there's still no guarantee that we would be at the right place." I said.

"I can guide you there, but it will still take us some time to make our way there." Chan said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Akane said rather quickly. This caught me off guard somewhat, since Akane is usually the type of girl that's normally quiet unless the situation calls for it. This made me a bit curious but I kept quiet about it.

Chan led us to her home where she gathered some things that we would need for the long trip and we started on our way. As we left, I thought that I could feel the sensation one gets when they're being watched, but I shook it off, thinking that it was just paranoia from what happened in Paris.

"_Things should get interesting from now on._" I thought to myself.

_**….**_

_As the group walked off onto a small road that led out of Shanghai, they failed to notice that a pair of eyes watched them from the shadows and one of the members in particular, a tall boy with spiky brown hair, and wore a jean vest over a button up shirt and cargo pants. The girl that the eyes belonged to backed further into the shadows as the boy turned around and looked in her direction, obviously not seeing her but having a puzzled expression on his face nonetheless. The boy shrugged his shoulders, turned around and continued walking. The girl stood up and chuckled to herself._

"_See you soon, guys." she said before walking into the main street and into the light of the sun._

_**Whaaaaaatt!?**_

_**JK!**_

_**Seriously though, that was chapter 10. Since this was fluff, it wasn't quite as long as the others, so not much went on as a result. Next chapter, we'll have the next character face themselves. And if you haven't figured it out yet, it's Akane.**_

_**Also, sorry for the huge gap between chapters, school just started up a few weeks ago and I'm having to get into the swing of things again, but I'm going to try my best to get my schedule back on track again here, so be patient boys and girls.**_

_**Anyways, that's all I've got to say, so see you next update!**_

_**:D**_


	11. Chapter 11: Weakness Into Strength

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

Chapter 11: Weakness Into Strength

_**I'M NOT DEAD!**_

"Huh? Where did she go?" Mikoto asked in confusion.

"With any luck, she went back to the Fragment." Shizuku replied.

"But, she said that this 'Fragment' was at the Great Wall." Chan spoke up. "There's a problem with that."

"What kind of problem?" Kaede asked.

"It's quite a ways away from Shanghai. It's right on the border of China in fact." Chan replied. "It would take you at least two days of walking to get there." That was actually sort of a big problem.

"Yeah, and I remember reading that the Great Wall is the actual border of China that separates it from the other countries around it. So even if we were to get there, there's still no guarantee that we would be at the right place." I said.

"I can guide you there, but it will still take us some time to make our way there." Chan said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Akane said rather quickly. This caught me off guard somewhat, since Akane is usually the type of girl that's normally quiet unless the situation calls for it. This made me a bit curious but I kept quiet about it.

Chan led us to her home where she gathered some things that we would need for the long trip and we started on our way. As we left, I thought that I could feel the sensation one gets when they're being watched, but I shook it off, thinking that it was just paranoia from what happened in Paris.

"_Things should get interesting from now on._" I thought to myself.

_**…**_

It had been a day since we set out for the Great Wall of China, and we were still, according to Chan, quite a ways away from our destination. It was starting to get dark out (okay, it can't be any darker than this, so late would be more precise), so we all agreed on making shelter for the night. We got out the sleeping bags that were (conveniently) on the ship. We had grabbed them before leaving Shanghai just in case. We stopped by a small wooded area so that we could get some wood for a fire. Tara and I went and got some wood for a fire after we had all settled in. I managed to get a fire going and we all huddled around it.

"Hey, Chan, how far away are we from the Great Wall?" Tara asked.

"We're still a few days away, but it won't take us that long." Chan replied.

"You know, I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or if it's just me, but are there more Dark Puppets running around nowadays?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have actually." Kaede replied. "That can't be a good sign."

"No, no it can't." I replied. "Dark Akane must have sent them out to try and make it harder for us to get to her." Suddenly, I heard a rustling sort of sound coming from the wooded area behind us.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Mikoto asked.

"Yeah, it sounded like it came from the woods." I replied. "I'll go check it out." I stood up and walked into the woods. I heard the noise again, but this time it was more of a whooshing sound, like a big gust of air. I then saw a shape flitting from one treetop to the next right above me. It looked human in shape, but that's all I was able to figure out. I chased it down, my suspicions already begging to be confirmed.

_**(A/N: A good song for this next scene would be Yu Narukami's theme from Persona 4 Arena, since it makes for a good chase song in my opinion. Also, it's the best version of Reach Out to the Truth I've ever heard.)**_

I transformed into my Kampfer form and picked up speed. I leaped up onto the nearest branch and began to leap from one to the next like my target. I kept up the chase for several minutes before having the idea to try and slow them down. Building up some electricity in my finger, I aimed at the back of my target and let loose with the energy. It shot forward and hit the mark dead on, earning a shriek of pain from the figure ahead of me. They fell downwards but quickly landed on their feet and kept running. I picked up even more speed and didn't lose sight of my prey.

After a while, I managed to gain enough distance between us that I could jump down and tackle them. I fired another blast of lightning at my target to slow them down even more, and succeeded in hitting them, but it didn't seem to slow them down other than causing them to stumble. I figured that it was now or never and leaped down at my prey, tackling them to the ground upon impact as I pinned them to the ground by their hands. They had turned around just as I tackled them, so I was able to see their face more clearly, or should I say _her_ face more clearly, since it was none other than Hikari that I pinned down.

"H-Hikari…?" I said in shock.

"What's wrong, little bro? You look like you've seen a ghost." Hikari giggled. You're certainly one to talk. I got off of Hikari and helped her to her feet.

"Hikari… How is this possible? I mean, I saw…" I began.

"I'll explain once we get back." Hikari replied calmly. Right about now, I was speechless and pretty much on the verge of tears as you can imagine. I stepped forward and hugged Hikari tightly.

"It… It's great to see you again, Hikari." I said before breaking away. "C'mon, let's head back."

_**…**_

When we got back, the others were basically shocked that I was walking out of the woods with my older sister who should be dead under all circumstances. Hikari began to explain what had happened to her.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened, but after I died, it was like I was just floating around in some black void." Hikari explained. "Then this weird voice started talking to me and asking me if I wanted a second chance at life. He told me that he could bring me back to life and after I told him yes, there was this big flash of light and I can't remember much after that."

"What can you remember?" Shizuku asked.

"I remember waking up in France and after wandering for a while, I ran into you guys." Hikari replied.

"But what I don't get is why you just didn't come right out and tell us then." I said.

"I wanted to surprise you guys." Hikari said smiling. "And I was also gathering some information."

"What kind of info?" Tara asked.

"Well, I found out that whoever isn't wearing one of those masks is potentially unaware of the Black Night." Hikari explained. That explains a lot, actually. I had noticed on occasion that people we passed would be going by minding their own business like everything was totally normal.

"Whoa, really?" Kanade asked.

"Yeah, and last night, I had this weird dream." Hikari added. "I was standing in front of this huge gate, and you guys were there too."

"What happened?" Shizuku asked.

"The gate opened up and out came some sort of black smoky shape. I couldn't make it out clearly, but it looked kinda' like a bunch of huge snakes." Hikari continued. "I figure since Mamoru's had some crazy dreams in the past that foreshadowed something important, then this must be the same sort of thing since we're related."

"I don't know, but you may be right." I replied. "We should all probably get some sleep now, since we have a long trip ahead of us first thing in the morning." The others nodded in agreement and we all settled in and started falling asleep.

_**…**_

Well, it was a long journey, but we finally made it to our grand destination; the Great Wall of China. Looking up at this thing, I realize that it's a lot more beautiful in person compared to some picture. We quickly found a way up onto the walkway of the wall and sure enough, there was the Fragment being guarded by Akane's Schatten counterpart.

"Ha! So you made it, eh?" Dark Akane said as she noticed us. "I thought you woulda' chickened out."

"No way, we're seeing this through to the end." Shizuku replied.

"Hang on, I'll make this quick!" Akane spat out as she walked toward her 'other self'. When did she transform? Wow, she works quickly, I guess. "I'm you and you're me. Happy? Now get in here." Dark Akane laughed.

"You think this is so easy?" Dark Akane asked challengingly. "It's not so easy to accept yourself that you just have to say the words." Dark Akane drew out her pistol and aimed it at Akane, who did the same. Kanade and Hikari moved next to her and readied themselves.

"Don't worry, Akane, we've got your back." Kanade said.

"Aw, how sweet. Your big bad bodyguards are here to protect you." Dark Akane said mockingly. "Just more people for you to depend on."

"N-No, that's not true. They're my friends, I don't depend on them." Akane said.

"Ha! What a load of crap! You've always depended on others to do things." Dark Akane retorted. "Always clinging to any friends you can make like a lost puppy in the fear that you'll lose them."

"No, that's not true." Akane said. Is she actually losing her composure?

" Ha! 'I'm too weak to do anything on my own. If only I had friends that could help me through it all.' That's what you're really thinking." Dark Akane said mockingly. "And you know why? Because I AM you!"

"N-No! You're lying! You…" Akane yelled.

"Don't say it!" Shizuku shouted.

"You're not me!" Akane shouted even louder. Dark Akane simply chuckled.

"You're right….I'm my own person now….I'm me and no one else!" Dark Akane said as an aura of dark energy began to engulf her body. Dark Akane's hair was now a silvery white and her eyes were a deep crimson. She jumped back and fired her pistol in a frenzy, obviously trying to hit all of us. I quickly transformed, jumped forward, and sliced a few of the rounds in half.

"Guys, we need to let Akane handle this for now!" I called back. "Don't interfere unless she's seriously hurt or she's going to lose!" The others nodded and I stepped back with them. Akane and Dark Akane stared each other down, each one's pistol aimed at the other. Akane leaped forward and fired a few shots from her pistol and Dark Akane did the same. The bullets didn't really hit anyone, rather they just flew in multiple directions. Akane did, however, manage to hit her counterpart in the shoulder with another bullet and moved in for a strike to the gut with the blunt end of her gun. It went on much like this for a few minutes until Dark Akane was starting to breathe heavily.

"You're starting…to become…an annoyance." Dark Akane said.

"Aw, shut up already!" Akane said as she fired another frenzied round of bullets. Dark Akane tried to dodge them, but her stamina was too drained from before, thus earning her a few decent shots in her arms and legs. While her counterpart was trying to get up again, Akane aimed her pistol again and fired a single shot from the barrel, the bullet struck home, going right through Dark Akane's chest and sending her to the ground again. After a few seconds, The various wounds healed to an extent and Dark Akane slowly stood up.

"I-Is it over?" Akane asked, short of breath as well.

"Yeah, but we're not done yet." I said, gesturing to the figure before us. Akane gave an understanding nod and walked up to her Schatten counterpart.

"I…I think I'm starting to get it now…" Akane said softly. "You're me…and I'm you. You're the part of me that was always what I wanted to hide. It's true that I always thought that I needed friends to give me the strength to get by in life. I always thought that if I had friends, then I wouldn't be so weak. But I see now that it only means that I never had any true friends, friends that I don't have to hope I never lose." Quite frankly, I've never seen Akane act like this in her Kampfer form. It's certainly a sight to behold, I'll tell you that much.

"Akane…" Kanade said.

"But…I think that I already have friends like that, and they're standing right behind me." Akane said, turning to the rest of us before facing her other self again. Dark Akane nodded and smiled before vanishing in a puff of purplish smoke. The smoke then entered Akane's body and after a few seconds…

…

…Is that an assault rifle…?

…That's an assault rifle…

…An assault rifle is in Akane's hands…

…

…Note to self; don't ever make Akane mad… Ever!

…Anyways, the rest of us walked up to Akane and cheered, congratulating her and the such.

…I seriously don't want to make Akane mad now that she's got that thing…

"Way to go Akane, you finally faced yourself." I said.

"Yeah, and you got a new weapon, too!" Hikari added.

"Haha…geez. You guys really just saw me like that didn't ya'?" Akane asked. "You guys know I wouldn't rely on ya' all the time like that, right?"

"Of course we do, Akane." Mikoto replied.

"Yeah. And we wouldn't expect anything else." Hikari said.

"…Thanks, guys." Akane said as she transformed back into her normal form. "Well, only two left, not counting Natsuru, that is."

"Yeah… We're almost done…" I said, getting lost in thought. Akane brought up a good point. We still need to find Natsuru and snap him out of whatever the Schatten have him under. But for now, we need to focus on the next Schatten. Let's see… There's only mine and Shizuku's left if I'm not mistaken. We're getting down to the wire here. I'll be so happy once everything's over.

"So, shall we head back?" Hikari asked. We all nodded and began our LONG trek back to Shanghai, already preparing ourselves for the danger ahead as the newly brightened sky showered us in warm sunlight…

_**Okay, so this chapter wasn't exactly my favorite to write. I had the craziest case of writers block and my brain eventually came up with this. But at least now I can move on to my more anticipated part of the story; the penultimate and ultimate bosses that will mark the end of our tale.**_

_**Anyways, I guess that'll do foir now, and I'll see you next time!**_

_**:D**_


	12. Authors Note

Kampfer: The Final Saga

Book Three: Im Schatten

AUTHOR'S NOTE

MAMORU: Hey there, you may know me as Mamoru Tsuyoshi from the Kampfer: the Final Saga Trilogy.

HIKARI: And I'm Hikari, Mamoru's big sis.

KANADE: And my name's Kanade Tachibana, an old friend of his.

MAMORU: Anyways, you're probably wondering why we're here and not off in some other part of the world fighting the Schatten right now. The thing is, MPdragonfire has been doing some soul-searching lately, and he's recently come to a decision.

KANADE: That's right. MPdragonfire has decided to discontinue this story for a few reasons.

HIKARI: Yeah, like the fact that he's been working on not just one, but TWO collaboration stories, one already released and in-progress.

KANADE: Yeah, I heard about that one, 'Toonsona' I believe it was called.

HIKARI: What's it about?

KANADE: It's supposed to be the canonical universe of Persona with a bunch of cartoons and other fandoms added. It's actually kind of interesting.

MAMORU: ANYWAYS, MPdragonfire regrets having to do this, especially since you all seemed to enjoy the story as it progressed. But he hopes that you'll continue to cheer him on as he-

MPdragonfire: HEY! What are you guys doing here? I thought you were supposed to be headed to the UK right now.

MAMORU: You never got that chapter out, dude.

MPdragonfire: Right… Anyways, what are you guys seriously doing here?

HIKARI: We're telling everyone about how you decided to discontinue Kampfer: The Final Saga Book Three.

MPdragonfire: Oh… Well, thanks guys. Mind if I take over from here?

KANADE: No problem at all, boss.

Anyways… I guess they already told you about my recent…epiphany…for lack of a better word. I've become so busy lately with not only my personal life, but I've also been working on some new stories with other authors. There are currently two I'm working on (one is still in the planning stages). All of this put together has rendered me unable to write for this fic.

AND to make things SOOOOO much better, I've pretty much lost all of my drive to write this thing as it is, so that doesn't help.

Sooooo… to be honest, there's no really easy way for me to say this, especially since you guys love this so much but… The story is done, I'm done writing it.

Now, I know that you guys really like this story, and I know that you're probably going to give me hell in the reviews, but that's a risk I'm willing to take, since I made this decision all on my own, so I'm going to take responsibility for what follows.

After posting this note, I'll let the story sit for a few more days just so that a few more people can finish up if they're still reading it. But after those few days, I'll delete this story for good.

Now, I'm not going to completely abandon you guys, I'm just going to step down from Kampfer fanfiction while I work on my other stories, then I'll give you guys something new when I step back up to the plate. What you guys can expect when I return will be my take on the American version of Kampfer. If you guys want, you can check out my latest story 'Toonsona'. It has a little of something in it for everybody, so you might enjoy it.

Now, before I forget, I have been asked by a guy by the name of ArchAngelMadness to inform you of a Kampfer petition out there on the web for those who want a second season of Kampfer. Just go onto Google or whatever search engine you use and type in "Kampfer petition" to find it and just sign it.

I'll say this once more; Kampfer: The Final Saga Book Three is finished. The KTFS Trilogy will go back to being just a two-part story. I would like to thank you all for reading and the great support you've also given me throughout this hit-and-miss experience.

So, until I return, I bid you farewell my friends.

**: )**


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